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Chris Beard: Ole Miss will 'not play the victim card' in Texas A&M loss

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•about 10 hours•

BarkleyTruax

NCAA Basketball: Oral Roberts at Mississippi
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

No. 13 Texas A&M outscored No. 16 Ole Miss 37-29 in the second half to knock off the Rebels at home on Wednesday night.

Aggies guard Manny Obaseki nailed a go-ahead 3-point basket in the final seconds of the game to give Texas A&M the 63-62 victory. The shot capped an 11-2 run for Texas A&M, who had to come back from an eight-point deficit in the final two minutes of the ball game.

Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard maintained a positive outlook on the game despite the late collapse.

“It’s a long season — there are 18 SEC games,” Beard said. “I guess tonight was No. 6. There are lots of lessons in each game whether you win or lose. Back to work tomorrow. We’re a fighter program with a fighter mentality. We’re not going to play the victim card.

“We had nobody to blame but ourselves for this. We had the game almost mathematically won. We’ve just got to be able to inbound the ball, break a press and accept the foul and make some free throws. We just weren’t able to do that tonight. “

Ole Miss attempted four free throw shots during the game and was out-rebounded 48-31 including 14 to 6 on the offensive glass. In the end, the Rebels led by as many as 11 points on Wednesday night but the late flurry by the Aggies earned them a hard-fought road SEC win.

Beard said there were a lot of lessons Ole Miss can learn from the loss.

“I care for these guys. I’d do anything I could to personally help them win,” Beard said. “But you just hope that a painful night like tonight … maybe there’s a silver lining in the end. It’s a long season. If we can learn from this we can become a better team finishing off a game when we have a lead big enough where we should win the game.”

Looking ahead, will have to bounce back in short order as the Rebels are set to travel to No. 22 Missouri on Saturday evening. The Tigers have won four of its last five games and have won their last three heading into the weekend.

Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ET and will air live on the SEC Network.