Ole Miss Basketball's Chris Beard Breaks Down Dominant Win Over Colorado State

Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard gave insight into the Rebels' crucial non-conference win on Saturday.

Nov 12, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard watches 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

Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard is off to a hot start so far in the 2024 campaign

That all continued on Saturday as the Rebels dominated Colorado State 84-69 in Southaven, Mississippi.

"This game had our full attention," Beard said postgame. "We knew we had to play well to win."

And play well the Rebels did. Ole Miss took a 45-36 lead into halftime, and despite a rally from Colorado State, Ole Miss once again held firm. Beard believes he saw some maturity from his team late in the game as well.

"Every season is a journey," Beard said. "You wait to see how you respond in different situations: maybe you're up big, maybe you're down big. Maybe you've got some guys that are banged up and can't play. There's all sorts of things that happen in a season.

"Today was really the first time we found ourselves in one of these 'heated moments.' There were some hard, direct words said in our timeouts, but I thought our players really responded. We had player voice in our timeouts late when we needed to get things flipped around."

Players being able to take charge and take accountability is massive, especially considering the Rebels are combining a talented roster from last season with a slew of transfers. It takes time for a team to really gel, so for the Rebels to be able to take that step in only their fourth game is a positive sign for the remainder of the campaign.

Ole Miss has also consistently been able to stifle late-game rallies this season, which shows how resilient Beard's team is as well. While it's impressive for a team to dominate a game, it's almost even more impressive for a team to consistently squash late rallies.

The Rebels are back in action on Thursday, Nov. 21 in the SJB Pavilion against Oral Roberts. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. CT and will be televised on SEC Network+.