Chris Beard opens up on where Ole Miss' confidence stands

Ole Miss suffered their fifth loss in the last six games on Saturday after being defeated 72-59 by South Carolina at home. Dropping to a 6-8 record in the SEC with the regular season nearing its end.

The Rebels’ eight conference losses represent their only eight losses of the entire season, starting the season 13-0 and winning all of their non-conference games. But amid their current losing stretch, head coach Chris Beard was asked where his team’s confidence stands now compared to their red-hot first two months of the season.

“Well, that’s a question for the players,” Beard said following Saturday’s loss. “I don’t want to speak for those guys but I think our confidence early was at a high level for a first-year team. Why? We put a lot of work into the summer, put a lot of work into practice. I think you earn the right to be confident, hours and hours in the gym and so here late it’s a fair question.”

Beard and his squad even began SEC play with a 5-3 record following their undefeated start to his first season at the helm in Oxford. But there’s no question that the college basketball season is a grind, as the Rebels are now being tested more than ever before when the outcomes start to matter the most.

“There’s some teams this time of year that are trying to hold on, there’s other teams that are playing their best basketball, and that’s our challenge as a coaching staff, team, best players, leaders. No time to feel sorry for yourself, this is the SEC, it’s college basketball,” Beard said.

“I wish we could practice tonight, I can’t wait to get back on the floor with our guys and clean some things up.”

Saturday was a tall task for Ole Miss, facing the SEC’s best defense after the Gamecocks had a full week of rest. Making just 33.3% of their shots from the field and a disappointing 18.8% of their attempts from behind the arc.

But despite their most recent showing, Beard still has confidence in his team. He’s just hoping they have the same confidence in themselves with March right around the corner.

“I have a lot of confidence in our players, that’s exactly what I told them after the game. I think that the story is yet to be written, there’s a lot of basketball left. Four games, a conference tournament, a national tournament so we’ll see, but there’s not question we need to be the best version of ourselves,” Beard explained. “Confidence is a big part of that and I think that’s a team thing.”

Ole Miss hosts No. 13 Alabama in their next game on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. ET in a marquee SEC matchup airing on ESPN2.