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Ole Miss

Chris Beard applauds environment Nate Oats has built at Alabama

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•about 13 hours•

BarkleyTruax

NCAA Basketball: Louisiana State at Mississippi
Jan 11, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard looks on during the second half against the LSU Tigers at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

No. 21 Ole Miss defeated No. 4 Alabama 74-64 on the road on Tuesday, improving the Rebels to 4-0 in SEC play heading into the weekend.

After the game, Rebels head coach Chris Beard gave credit to Alabama head coach Nate Oats for the culture and fanfare he’s brought to the Crimson Tide program since taking over the program in 2019.

“Seeing the crowd tonight and what Nate’s done in the last couple of years here, it’s real,” Beard said. “Tonight, we knew this was going to be one of the toughest environments to play in. It was, but I think our guys did a pretty good job controlling those moments. One key play in the game was [when] crowd was about to just erupt… I got up and was going to try to help the guys.

“I don’t like to stand much during the games, but Matt Murrell made a courageous senior type play to get the ball to the basket. And that kind of calmed the storm a little bit. But great crowd. I thought they were into the game. Our guys did a pretty good job eliminating those runs that Alabama goes in when the roof’s about to go off the top.”

It was a gritty win for Ole Miss, who shot 27-70 (38.6%) from the floor, but forced 21 turnovers on 14 steals. The Rebels also won the offensive rebound margin by five. Ole Miss would go on to lead by as many as 12 points in the second half before the end of regulation.

Five Rebels scored in double figures during the contest, led by a 23-point, 19-rebound performance from 6-foot-9 forward Malik Dia. Murrell finished with 11 points, Sean Pedulla logged 12 and both Jaemyn Brakefield and Jaylen Murray came off the bench, scoring 13 points a piece.

“We did just a good enough job to kind of keep them away from those explosive moments, and tonight we we did a good job, you know, basically controlling the environment that we were in,” Beard said.

Looking ahead, Ole Miss will look to continue their undefeated start to SEC play on the road against No. 15 Mississippi State for the first of two in-state rivalry matchups this season. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ET live on ESPN2.