Texas Longhorns Fall to No. 23 Ole Miss in First Meeting vs. Chris Beard Since Firing

The Texas Longhorns came up just short to the No. 23 Ole Miss Rebels in the first game against head coach Chris Beard since his 2023 firing from UT.
Jan 29, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Tre Johnson (20) shoots fa three point basket as Mississippi Rebels guard Eduardo Klafke (8) defends during the first half at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Jan 29, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Tre Johnson (20) shoots fa three point basket as Mississippi Rebels guard Eduardo Klafke (8) defends during the first half at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

In the first meeting since his firing in 2023, Chris Beard got the best of his former team and his close friend.

Tre Johnson missed a potential game-tying triple at the buzzer and the Texas Longhorns fell just short of picking up their third straight ranked win in a 72-69 loss to the No. 23 Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford on Wednesday, giving Beard a win over his former assistant, Rodney Terry.

Ole Miss guard Sean Padulla finished with a team-high 19 points and hit the go-ahead runner with 1:02 left to give the Rebels the lead for good. Dre Davis added 17 points and seven rebounds while Jaemyn Brakefield had 18 points and five rebounds.

“That’s our guy right there. You’re gonna go down swinging with your gun," Terry said of Johnson's final shot attempt. "That’s a great look, and we’ll take that all day every day.”

Johnson had a game-high 22 points while Arthur Kaluma, who was retunring from a one-game absence, finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists. He missed the potential game-tying free throw on the backend of a 1-and-1 with 49 seconds to play. The Longhorns had gone 12 of 13 from the line prior to that point.

Chris Bear
Jan 29, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard talks with Mississippi Rebels forward Malik Dia (0) during the first half against the Texas Longhorns at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Ole Miss only led by as many as five but it was a 11-4 turnover deficit for Texas that made the difference, as the Rebels got 13 points off these takeaways. The Longhorns also had a 42-33 edge on the glass and 14-8 offensive rebounding advantage but were unable to use this to pull out a road win.

Texas forward Kadin Shedrick added nine points and four rebounds while sophomore forward Devon Pryor had six points, a career-high five rebounds and a block in 16 minutes off the bench.

The Longhorns jumped out to an 11-2 lead after holding the Rebels without a field goal until the 14:48 mark, but Ole Miss responded with a 10-1 run that flipped some early momentum.

The Rebels took their first lead on a breakaway layup from Murrell at 15-14 as Texas started to get sloppy with the turnovers, but a 16-2 run pushed the Longhorns back up to 32-19 at the 5:43 mark. After Johnson nailed a corner triple and a step-back jumper, Devon Pryor added a vicious put-back off a miss in transition to highlight the scoring burst for Texas.

However, a first half that featured multiple runs saw Ole Miss score nine straight points to cut the lead back to two at 36-34 in the closing minute. Kaluma got to the rim for a layup to give Texas a 38-34 lead at halftime. Johnson and Pedulla both headed into the locker room with 11 points each.

The Rebels got out to an 8-2 run to begin the second half but the game turned it a true back-and-forth affair from that point on. After Johnson got an inside-hand layup to go, Jordan Pope hit his second triple to put Texas up 47-44 with 13:04 to play. Pedulla quickly responded with 3-pointer on the other end and two more points a minute later.

Texas answered with an alley-oop dunk from Pryor on the fastbreak while the Rebels went over five minutes without a field goal. Davis and Brakefield ended that shooting drought with four straight points. Davis then got free for a big dunk at the rim to put Ole Miss up 63-58 with 5:02 to play.

The Rebels defended Johnson well for most of the second half but he started getting warm after scoring six straight points for Texas, which included four free throws. He then hit a triple to highlight a 5-0 run for the Longhorns that tied things up at 66 with 2:21 left.

But with time running out, Pedulla and the Rebels made the plays to win another tightly-contested SEC game while the Longhorns found themselves on the opposite end of a crushing loss.

Texas will hit the road to take on the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge on Saturday.

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Zach Dimmitt
ZACH DIMMITT