Chris Beard Wants Veteran Ole Miss Basketball Players to 'Embrace Every Possession'

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Chris Beard wasn't pleased with what he saw from some of his experienced players on Saturday.

Nov 12, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard talks with Mississippi Rebels forward Jaemyn Brakefield (4) during the first half against the South Alabama Jaguars at C.M. 'Tad' Smith Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Saturday was a wake up call for the Ole Miss Rebels as they suffered an 87-70 loss at the hands of the Memphis Tigers at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, and it's clear that the home crowd was involved in the contest from start to finish.

Last season, Ole Miss picked up a win over the Tigers when they met in Oxford, but the Rebels did not play their best brand of basketball this weekend and suffered their second loss of the season as a result.

After the game, Ole Miss coach Chris Beard discussed what he wants to see from his team moving forward, and a lot of it begins with emotion and investment into the possessions that make up a game.

"It was very obvious from where I was sitting that they [Memphis] were emotionally attached to the game," Beard said. "We matched that for segments of the game but nowhere near the 40 minutes that it would have required today to play better.

"My thing is that it's a player's game. We have to do a better job embracing each possession. We've got some veteran guys who have played a long time, and it's like they think that everything is just going to be okay. When you play against a team like Memphis that, again, in my opinion, was emotionally attached to this game, you don't have that margin for error."

Ole Miss does have multiple players on its roster who have played a lot of minutes in college basketball, and a couple of those players have spent a long time in Oxford. Names like guard Matthew Murrell and forward Jaemyn Brakefield did not have big statistical games on Saturday, and Beard was asked what needs to happen for players like these two to find their full form in SEC play.

"Those are questions for those players," Beard said. "I always thought in college coaching that we don't speak for our players. We've got to coach better than we did tonight, play better than we did tonight, but certainly there are some individual performances on this stat sheet that we're not going to be successful if four or five of our best players don't bring their A-game."

Ole Miss emerges from its non-conference schedule with an 11-2 record which, on the surface, is a good mark as SEC play approaches. But the way the Rebels lost to Memphis on Saturday puts a damper on what has otherwise been a successful start to the season, and recovering in time to face conference opponents will be a must if Ole Miss hopes to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.

The Rebels are off until Saturday when they play host to the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC opener. Tip-off at the SJB Pavilion is set for 11 a.m. CT, and the game will be televised on SEC Network.