Chris Beard opens up on what it means to lead Ole Miss to victory in home state of Texas

Ole Miss earned a one-score win on the road against Texas A&M on Saturday. For head coach Chris Beard, it was a chance to go and win a game close to his hometown and in his home state of Texas.

After initially downplaying the difference in playing a game close to home or further from it, Beard did admit that it felt good to be able to go home and get a win.

“I mean the next game on the schedule is the most important,” Chris Beard said. “But when you get to come to your home state and play a game, obviously two of the three of my daughters were here and teammates from McCullough were here. I had my athletic director from Angelo State here. So, yeah, I think it’s just like when a player comes home, there’s just something extra in that game, and denying that wouldn’t be truthful.”

Just like everyone else, Chris Beard has food that he looks forward to eating when they go home. Perhaps unsurprisingly for Beard, that food for him is Texas barbecue.

“So, just the people that were here that I got a chance to see last night. And I’m a big fan of Cooper’s barbecue. I think I’ve taken five teams to Cooper’s as a head coach, and it was good. Mississippi has great food. Not good. Great. But there’s just something about Texas barbecue. I like the brisket moist, and that’s the deal at Cooper’s, as you guys know,” Beard said.

“And the cobbler, we had players saying, ‘I don’t like cobbler.’ I said, ‘I didn’t ask you if you liked cobbler. I told you to taste that cobbler.’ Because, you know, when you get the bite with crust in it, you guys know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, then do you even understand where you live? The cobbler at Cooper’s, it made the win special as well.”

The win against Texas A&M itself was a hard fought game where Ole Miss was out-rebounded by Texas A&M. However, after shooting a higher percentage from the field and from three-point range than the Aggies, Ole Miss was able to pull out the close win.

On Tuesday, Ole Miss is back in action against Mississippi State.

Buzz Williams shares positive takeaway from Texas A&M’s close games

On the other side of the game was a tough, close loss for Texas A&M. It was a frustrating game, but head coach Buzz Williams still had a positive takeaway.

“What I would say, we lost at Arkansas in the first 10 minutes of the game in many respects. We lost versus LSU because we were pitiful from start to finish,” Williams said.

“I just mentioned it to our team in the locker room, no matter what the NET says, no matter what KenPom says, no matter what Twitter says, all of this is incredibly hard and the margin is almost invisible. I think our group, some of the turmoil with things that we can’t control, I think has hardened us in a good way. I think playing the non-conference schedule we played is for sure a part of that. We’ve played eight Quad 1 games, more than anybody in our league. Distinctly more. I think that matters.”