Chris Beard 'didn't want to go to halftime' as Ole Miss scored 54 first half points on Kentucky

Ole Miss beat Kentucky on Tuesday night in the first 20 minutes of the game. That was the ball game.

Despite a second-half performance that saw the Wildcats drop 53 points while shooting 63 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from deep, a 23-point halftime deficit (third-largest against an SEC team in program history) was simply far too much to overcome.

Kentucky gave up 54 first-half points to the Rebels. According to UK statistician Corey Price, that’s the most points the Wildcats have ever allowed against Ole Mis throughout school history in a first half. The previous high was 52 points all the way back in Feb. 1991 — the final season of UK’s two-year NCAA Tournament ban.

“That was one of the things I was most impressed with,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said of his team’s first half. “I didn’t want to go to halftime. I wanted to keep playing. Told the players after the game that I don’t think I’ve enjoyed watching a team play more than I did tonight watching us play in the first half especially.

Ole Miss could do no wrong in the first half of action. On defense, the Rebels held Kentucky to 31 points on 38.7 percent shooting. UK had six turnovers to seven assists. No Wildcat had more than eight points. On offense, Ole Miss was about as perfect as possible: 60.6 percent from the field and 9-17 from deep. The Rebels did not turn the ball over once while assisting on 18 of its 20 first-half shots. A timely 15-3 run in the final four minutes of the opening half put Kentucky in a massive hole.

“It helps to make shots,” Beard added. “Basket got big for us. I thought we just played the right way. We were sharing the ball. Most of our baskets were assisted.”

The second half wasn’t nearly as pretty for Ole Miss. Kentucky head coach Mark Pope was emphatic there are no moral victories with this program, but to the Wildcats’ credit, they showed fight after the intermission. It was an 11-point game with roughly eight minutes to go before the Rebels closed it out down the stretch.

Kentucky is not in a good spot right now. Point guard injuries are beginning to be felt more and more throughout the team. Consistency is an issue on both ends of the floor, even more so with an offense that is clearly elite but goes through bad droughts at the worst moments. It’s never a good sign for the ‘Cats when an opposing head coach wants to skip halftime because of how efficiently his team is playing.

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