Chris Beard: Start of game was unacceptable for Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State

It wasn’t a great start for Chris Beard and Ole Miss in the Rebels’ 84-81 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday. They’ll certainly need more juice in another ranked matchup against Texas A&M Wednesday night.

Sure the Rebels, who trailed by eight after the first half, fought back and forced overtime, but it was still another tally in the loss column. Beard needed a better start out of his squad.

If that becomes a theme, Ole Miss’ 15-3 record could soon go the other way against high quality competition.

“It was a good college basketball game, those guys protecting their home court,” Beard said to start his postgame presser. “You know, to me, three things, the start of the game for us was just unacceptable. You can’t dig a hole like that. The first eight minutes of the game, the first two four minute periods in the 40 minute game. But give them credit. I think they fed off the crowd. They were the more physical, aggressive team the first eight minutes of the game. So now we’re playing from behind. Give them the credit. We understood what we were walking into today. Just didn’t get it done.”

Jaemyn Brakefield led the way with 20 points, seven rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes. Sean Pedulla added 18 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Beard and Ole Miss can’t let a slow start hinder them at home against Texas A&M. Perhaps being in a comfortable environment will help them.

“State the obvious. This is who they are, this is their identity and this is how they do it,” Beard said on Tuesday about Texas A&M. “It’s one thing just to say, ‘Hey, we got to block out there. They’re going to crash.’ It’s much more detailed than that. There’s a method to their madness.

“I think it’s a plan. Some teams, they run a play, they get a shot. To me, teams like this, they run a play, they get the shot and they continue to run the play. I think there’s offensive rebounding strategy, teaching to this.”

Slow starts have been an issue for the Rebels throughout their first 18 games and with 13 more SEC games remaining, mostly against Top 25 teams, that is something that Beard wants rectified.

“We can’t dig that kind of hole,” Beard added. “You know you’re going to get a great shot early, a great punch early. We set the game up in 10 four-minute games but you got to hold serve. You got to compete early.

“Think about it. It’s not just complex math. The game ends the score is tied but four, five minutes into the game we’re down double-digits. So, really, in a lot of ways was the difference in the game.”