Everything Chris Beard said as Ole Miss basketball turns to the SEC Tournament

Ole Miss basketball closed out the regular season with a free shot at No. 5 Florida. 

Good thing, too. 

The Rebels are all but locked in for their 10th all-time NCAA Tournament berth. They last reached the ‘Big Dance’ in 2018-19. Ole Miss will be the fourth different program second-year head coach Chris Beard has taken to the tournament. 

The Rebels (21-10, 10-8 SEC) at this point are only playing for seeding. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has them as a 6-seed. 

Florida, meanwhile, is vying for a 1-seed. They played like it Saturday, toasting the Rebels in a 90-71 blowout. The Rebels trailed by just seven at halftime. 

Walter Clayton, Jr., scored 23 points against the Rebels for the second year in a row. Clayton, the SEC’s sixth-leading scorer, had as many in a 103-85 loss last season. 

This time around he had Alex Condon on his side.

Condon chipped in 17 and a whopping 15 rebounds. Florida (27-4, 14-4) out-rebounded Ole Miss, 48-36. 

Sean Pedulla made 7 of 13 shots for a team-high 22, his sixth game this season with 20 or more points. Jaylen Murray was the only other Rebel to score in double figures. He had 12 and four assists. Ole Miss now has 268 total steals on the year, the fifth-most in program history.

Ole Miss is the 8-seed and received a first-round bye in next week’s SEC Tournament. The Rebels will face the winner of No. 16 South Carolina and No. 9 Arkansas on Thursday at noon CT on SEC Network. 

They’d draw No. 1 Auburn should they advance. Here’s everything Beard said after the loss.

OPENING STATEMENT

Beard: First of all congratulations to Florida not only on today’s game, senior win at home, but just the season they’re having. A lot of respect for what they’ve built here in a short time. Great roster build. Basically nine-man rotation with three or four guys that played last year. To get players to return these days is a luxury. They’ve got their experience returning. Did a really good job in the portal recruiting players that fit them. It’s a really impressive roster build. Really good team, in my opinion. They should be a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. They’re deserving of that. 

In terms of the basketball game, I’ll tell you exactly what we just told our team. You have to have a defense in the month of March. Our plan was not to have this game in the 90s tonight. We missed a lot of good shots around the basket. Our finish percentage in the first half was really poor. Give Florida credit; they do a great job of vertical jump, trying not to foul. We just missed some bunnies.

In the second half our defense is just non-existent. Always thought in March you’ve got to have special performances by your best players. Your best guard and best forward tonight just filled up the state sheet. That’s what March is. Everybody’s got to bring their ‘A’ game and your best players have to play special. That’s what happened tonight from my perspective.

ON FLORIDA SEPARATING IN THE SECOND HALF

Beard: In the first half interesting kind of box score. We got like a record number of shots in the paint, we just shot a very low percentage. We’ve just got to demand the foul there. We’ve got to finish at a higher percentage or we’ve got to do a better job of executing inside-out. I give Florida credit; it’s obvious to me they teach not fouling. They teach vertical jump. Do a good job of it.

They obviously have some shot-blockers. During that time where we were missing some good shots from our perspective we just couldn’t get a stop. Some of those possessions where Clayton just kind of took over and was making tough, one-on-one shots, but you’ve got to be able to absorb that in March. The best players are going to have March moments and your team defense has to be able to hang in there and calm some of those storms. Our offense did not help our defense during some of those runs, and our defense was just non-existent.

ON BEING OUT-REBOUNDED

Beard: Very difficult (to win). They’re a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. They basically have four guards. They can dribble, pass and shoot. All can play and make just enough. They have an NBA point guard in Clayton. The bigs just come and swarm you. They do a great job with a four-man rotation keeping guys fresh. They can rim-run and seal. Just a really talented team. 

One through nine I don’t know if there’s a more talented team in college basketball. That’s why they’re deserving of the attention and respect they’re getting as the SEC Tournament begins. 

ON PULLING MATTHEW MURRELL

Beard: A lot of that was coach’s decision down the stretch. Just making sure nothing crazy happened in the last few minutes because we need Matt in Nashville. Once the game was kind of out of hand that was a coaching decision. 

Matt’s been banged up all year. It’s well-documented — or at least it is in Oxford, Mississippi. A lot of respect for Matt and what he’s doing this year to help his team. He’s got a couple of much-needed days of rest. We avoided the first day in Nashville, which is good. We’ve had a good season. To not have to play that first day is an extra day of rest for Matt and others, which hopefully we can take advantage of. 

ON THE STRENGTH OF THE SEC

Beard: At media day I said this has a chance to be one of the best leagues in college basketball, just like I said when I was in the Big 12, and just like they’re saying in the Big East. I think what happened was first of the season you’ve got good players returning. I think the SEC’s commitment to being active in the name, image and likeness game … obviously (Florida) has a roster here that’s put together really nice. The league kept the best players in the league and the league was very effective in both high school recruiting and portal recruiting.

“College basketball starts with just really good rosters on SEC teams, then the talk has to be proven.”

I thought was a record non-conference success rate for all the teams in our league, Ole Miss included. We contributed. Beat a good BYU team on a neutral floor (and) Louisville on their home floor. We had some nice wins. Colorado State team that I think with be in the NCAA Tournament. Florida held their own, obviously. 

Everybody in the league did a good job, then when the league starts it’s just been a bloodbath. It’s short-term memory. Two-game winning streak, free breakfast burritos in the mornings. Lose a couple games fans think the world’s falling apart. But those of us in the arena playing and coaching understand you’ve got to get yourself up. That’ll be the challenge and opportunity for our team. 

We just took a pretty good licking by one of the best teams in the country. We’ve got to have a short-term memory and get fired up to play in Nashville.

ON ALEX CONDON

Beard: First I’ll speak to their coaching staff’s ability to put him in great positions. There’s a lot of talented players around college basketball, but this seems to be a good fit. Position-less player. He can play around the basket, can stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting. Kind of a poised player.

On defense he has the ability just with his length and IQ alone to be a good defender. I know that’s been a priority. They’ve become a better defensive team. We played Florida last year in Oxford. Checking that game early in our prep time this week and then watching them play this year, this is an improved defense, in my opinion, from the Florida team last year. Their coaching staff’s done a great job. 

ON FLORIDA’S VERTICALITY

Beard: The rules of college basketball changed a couple years ago when the charge/block was taken out of it. We all teach the same thing — little circles down there underneath the basket and it’s a vertical jump. Florida does a good job keeping their hands vertical. They do a good job. It’s obvious they teach it. They try to not foul. You can kind of check the body language of the staff during games. When a guy fouls around the basket they seem to be upset with that. Then don’t forget shot-blocking is where it all starts. You can be good at the vertical jump and all this doesn’t mean anything if you can’t go block a shot. They’ve got length and athleticism. They’ve got very competitive, kind of big guards. (Will) Richard is a really good player. They’ve got  size and skill in the guard spot. 

It’s a shot-blocking team, and then once you get past that, they do a good job of not fouling.