Ole Miss Coach Chris Beard Still Views Basketball Rebels as 'Work-In-Progress'

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Chris Beard still views his team as a "work-in-progress" at the start of December.
Nov 21, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard reacts during the second half against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Nov 21, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard reacts during the second half against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
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The No. 23 Ole Miss Rebels split their two games in last week's Rady Children's Invitational in San Diego, picking up an overtime win over BYU and suffering a nail-biting loss to the Purdue Boilermakers on Black Friday.

Ole Miss has a quick turnaround this week as it heads to Louisville to take part in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Tuesday. Rebels head coach Chris Beard was made available to the media on Monday where he discussed what he learned about his team last week and where he thinks the squad currently stands as the month turns to December.

"Obviously the first opportunity to play against Power Five, BCS opponents," Beard said. "It's early season. We'll see how it plays out, but I do think that BYU and Purdue both have chances to have really good seasons.

"Just the reality of playing against great competition gave us an opportunity to improve. Exposed some things, for sure. Short turnaround in this Louisville game, but I think if we can get through this three-game stand right here, then we have a chance to practice and get back to us."

There are some specific areas that Beard believes the Rebels need to work on as they enter this critical month. SEC play opens for Ole Miss on Jan. 4, and that's where the rubber will truly meet the road in its NCAA Tournament quest.

What did Beard see in San Diego that will be a focus moving forward?

"Didn't get off to a good start in either game," Beard said. "Really looking at everything that goes into that, the players on the floor, the offense/defense schemes. Two winning-time situations, we close the game out against BYU, and we obviously did not close the game out against Purdue.

"Some specific things, just continuing to try and be a better rebounding team on offense, continuing to try to find that balance between getting to the free throw line but understanding that one of our identities is our three-point shooting."

So far this season, Ole Miss is shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc and 76.4 percent from the charity stripe.

The Rebels have obviously enjoyed some success in the non-conference portion of its schedule. Although they lost an 80-78 game to Purdue (who moved up to No. 8 in this week's AP Poll) on Friday, it seems that this Ole Miss team has some solid potential.

Still, Beard isn't satisfied just yet. He views this month as a critical one in preparation for conference play.

"I think we're still a work-in-progress," Beard said. "I'm sure that every other team can kind of do the same thing, but it's like two sides of a coin. I can tell you how well we played against Colorado State in the first half, a really good opponent. I can tell you how in the second half, it was kind of a different game.

"I can tell you some positives from BYU and Purdue, but also some glaring things that we've got to work on."

That's not necessarily a bad thing, however. There is room for improvement, but if you're a coach, you'd rather have these discussions in November and December rather than February and March.

"I don't think we're different any than any other team," Beard said. "You don't want to be your best version in November. You kind of learn a lot about yourself in November and try to hold serve as much as you can. December is a big month because it's got to be the improvement heading into conference play, so December has always been about trying to improve."

Tip-off on Tuesday between Ole Miss and Louisville is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.


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John Macon Gillespie
JOHN MACON GILLESPIE

John Macon Gillespie is the publisher of The Grove Report and has experience on the Ole Miss beat spanning five years.