Chris Beard makes definitive statement on complacency of Ole Miss

Ole Miss dropped a frustrating home game against rival Mississippi State on Saturday, snapping a three-game winning streak. After the game, head coach Chris Beard was highly critical of his team, calling out their lack of aggressiveness and complacency during the game.

It was an 81-71 win for the Bulldogs, who came into the game having lost three out of four games. Still, the result didn’t surprise Beard because of both how Ole Miss has been playing and how Mississippi State performed during the game.

“I wish I could tell you I was surprised but I wasn’t,” Chris Beard said. “I think these last two games, the four halves we played on the road, fortunate to win those games, but I would agree with the players they weren’t the most aggressive team tonight.”

Mississippi State won the rebounding battle by 12 overall. That includes 14 offensive rebounds. That, when combined with shooting 43.1 percent compared to 38.3 percent by Ole Miss ended up being key difference makers.

“I give Mississippi State credit. Got a good coach, good players. I thought 5 [Shawn Jones, Jr.] was the difference in the game. You look at his plus-minus [+22], winning basketball. You look at the stat sheet on us, we had one guy that had a positive plus-minus today,” Beard said. “We got some good minutes from Mikeal [Brown-Jones] off the bench. College basketball is a players’ game. You’ve got to have guys show up to play. Ultimately, where the coach fits in, is it’s his responsibility to get the guys ready to play. I want to apologize to all the fans that drove into Oxford today to watch this rivalry. We did our best to explain to the guys how important this game was. We obviously didn’t get it done.”

Ole Miss was coming into the game on a three-game winning streak, having beaten Kentucky handily before taking two close games from LSU and South Carolina. However, even going back to the second half of the Kentucky game, there have been those who have suggested Ole Miss is playing too complacently, which Beard doesn’t believe his team has the right to be.

“If complacency is a part of this, then we’ve got some guys that need to do some real soul-searching,” Beard said. “Complacent for what? What have we done that allows us to be complacent?”

Chris Beard says Ole Miss lacks sense of urgency

One key difference in the game, according to a visibly frustrated Chris Beard, was each team’s sense of urgency. Mississippi State had one but Ole Miss didn’t.

“I think it’s a fair statement,” Chris Beard said. “It’s hard for me as the coach to say that, but that’s exactly what I told the guys after the game. Victory is going to favor the team that’s more aggressive. In this time of year, in the SEC, you’re supposed to see two aggressive teams going at it. The victory will favor the team with the fewest mistakes once guys show up to fight. I thought for a lot of the game, we weren’t a part of the aggressiveness fight. That’s what rebounding is. That’s finishing around the basket, demanding that the refs call the fouls. I just thought we had a lot of softness to us today. That’s not easy for me to say as the coach. That’s one thing we pride ourselves on.”

With the loss, Ole Miss fell to 8-5 in SEC play. That currently puts them seventh in the conference standings, just ahead of Mississippi State. With five games remaining, it looks like competing for the SEC in the regular season is now out of reach.

“We’re not going to win every game, but we do have an objective that we’re not going to put an effort out there like I thought we put out there today. Again, not taking anything away from Mississippi State. You can tell their backs are against the wall. They’re chasing wins here down the stretch in mid-February. They have great role definition on their team. Already mentioned 5 is just a winner. I don’t care what the stat line says. Just look at the final number. I felt when I was out there. He’s a winning player. Who brought their ‘A’ game for us today? I’m not sitting here throwing the players under the bus. We coached the team — our staff. We’re all in this together,” Beard said.

“Team obviously wasn’t well-coached today. The players didn’t perform at the level it’s going to take to beat a team that’s very hungry right now.”

Next, Ole Miss is going to need to be ready for a major pair of road tests. First Ole Miss heads to play a tough Vanderbilt team before going to Auburn.