Chris Beard opens up on what he has seen from Ole Miss in recent wins

Since losing in blowout fashion at Tennessee to pick up their first loss of the season, Ole Miss bounced back with a pair of strong performances this week to prove that terrific start was no fluke after all.

In by far their best offensive showing of the season, the Rebels rebounded off the horrible trip to Knoxville to come out and hammer a good Florida team at home, surpassing 100 points for the first time this season to win 103-85. Then, in a vastly different outing on Saturday, Ole Miss held serve at home for a second straight game, besting Vanderbilt in a more defensive showdown, 69-56.

After the game, head coach Chris Beard was asked about the stark contrast between the two wins despite both ending as victories for the home team. He frankly admitted that such storylines couldn’t matter less to him. Whether they score 70 or 100, he just wants to see a balanced attack.

“Yeah, my mind’s pretty much always on the game, I can’t even really remember who we played last,” Beard admitted after the game. “But I know today we had an offensive game plan to try to have some balance, and we got four guys to double figures with another guy at nine. So if we can get five guys in double-figure scoring, it’s always good for us the way we like to play.”

In the Vanderbilt game specifically, Beard was impressed with his team’s ability to take care of the basketball as the game wore on.

“I thought it was a low-turnover second half. We really responded. We had some self-inflicted mistakes in the first half, turnover wise, and that’s going to happen. It’s not a perfect game as much as we strive for that. But in the second half, to take care of the ball, I think we only had two or three turnovers in the second half, that’s good for our offense.”

The weekday matchup vs. Florida was much more of a track meet, so Chris Beard was also happy to see his defense come out and really suffocate an opponent that prides itself on the offensive end of the court.

“And then again defensively today, I just liked our team defense from where I was sitting. You know, we had five guys in a stance. And again, defending maybe one of the most difficult offenses to defend in the SEC because of their movement and their screening and their cutting.”

The Rebels were especially strong against Vandy point guard Ezra Manjon, a speedy and crafty ball-handler with excellent passing vision.

“And then obviously their point guard. He’s a dynamic player, he’s very, very fast. I mean, he’s speed on speed. And I thought our guys did a good job containing him the best we could.”

Manjon finished with just one assist as Ole Miss did an excellent job forcing secondary Commodore ball-handlers to create in the half-court rather than Manjon. Meanwhile, on offense, Ole Miss’ guard trio — Matthew Murrell, Allen Flanigan and Jaylen Murray — combined for 52 of the 69 points to lead the way to win No. 2 in a row.