Everything Chris Beard said after Ole Miss basketball’s critical win over Oklahoma

Chris Beard knew the assignment when he was hired as Ole Miss head coach two years ago.

He’s won nearly as many NCAA Tournament games in his career (8) as the Rebels have all-time appearances (9) in their 100-plus-year history. They last got there in 2018-19 but were bounced in the first round in a blowout.

He’s here for March Madness. The Rebels (20-9, 9-7 SEC) are on the doorstep after an 87-84 win over Oklahoma (17-12, 4-12) on Saturday.

“It’s what I was hired to do,” Beard said in his postgame press conference. The Rebels entered play No. 24 in the NET and a projected NCAA Tournament 7-seed by both ESPN and CBS. 

“It’s the conversation the chancellor and Keith (Carter, Ole Miss athletics director) and I had.”

“I take that very seriously. I never forget the bottom line. For me, personally, which is a small part of this, this was the job we were hired to do. 

“More importantly, by far, I think about the players. I want Matt (Murrell) and (Jaemyn Brakefield) and others, Dre (Davis), I want them to experience what winning basketball is this month. Ninety-nine percent, I really just think about the players. 

“But the one percent? Absolutely.”

Ole Miss hosts No. 5 Tennessee Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2 in the regular-season home finale. Here’s everything else Beard said after the win. 

ON THE FIVE TURNOVERS OLE MISS FORCED WITHIN THE FIRST FEW MINUTES

Beard: There’s 10 four-minute games in every college game, and we try to get our guys to understand that you can win the game in one or two of these, and you can lose the game in one or two of these. We really value it. The first four-minute game (Saturday) was the best defense we’ve played. We were dialed in, made some plays, and were a little fortunate. They missed a couple of shots.

But I think there’s no doubt about it, that was our best defensive segment in the game. Basically two kinds of defensive programs for many, many years that have won at different spots, and tonight was like the defense was non-existent. Both teams shot 50 percent from the floor, both teams hit 3s. We had a little bit of an advantage getting to the free-throw line, but they shot a better percentage. Defensively, the only thing is we had a small edge and forced them to turn it over a few more times than they did. But it was a pretty even game defensively and not a game we’re pleased with.

“On the offensive side of the ball, really two special performances, Sean (Pedulla) and their freshman guard.”

The depth and balance when we needed it most were here today. We’ve got six guys averaging double figures or right around it. That’s the offensive identity for our team. Today is no different. I thought (Davon) Barnes had really key plays. Some of his offensive rebounds and defensive plays were big. We had enough balance, and guys brought their ‘A’ game offensively that we basically were able to win a one-possession game against a quality opponent. Porter (Moser, Oklahoma head coach) and I have been friends for a long time. He’s one of the best coaches in college basketball. He’s done it for a long time at many different places.

I told the guys, ‘I’m proud of you today. You beat a really good coach that has good players.’

ON OLE MISS’ DEFENSE ON OKLAHOMA’S FINAL OFFENSIVE POSSESSION

Beard: In that moment, some coaches you can anticipate what might be coming. With Porter, I wasn’t going to go down that road. He has a lot of good things offensively, so we just got back to basics. Sure, they’re going to drive the ball to the basket. Show your hands on defense, watch the handoffs, fake handoffs. It wasn’t necessarily trying to predict what they were going to run, because that’s impossible with Porter. 

Just calming the guys down. In those situations, sometimes it’s just a simple timeout and making sure the guys understand the reality of where we are. We work on it every day in practice — a game-winning stop or a game-winning basket. We just want to tap back into our preparation and try to do the best job we can to eliminate mistakes and remind the guys how important the rebound is in those moments. The shot can beat you, but the rebound normally beats you more than the shot.

ON PEDULLA’S WINNING SHOT

Beard: You could almost predict it. Just really impressed with Sean. It’s not personal. He went and wrote his story at Virginia Tech, and then obviously Porter knows he’s a player and all that. You get into that storyline, maybe a more immature player would kind of take it like, ‘I’ve got to put my Superman cape on today.’ That wasn’t Sean’s approach. 

I said, ‘Sean, the ultimate goal here is to win the game. Hopefully, you’re at the press conference after a win, whether it’s a seven-assist and average-stat-sheet-looking game.’ But tonight, because of the game and because neither team could really establish itself defensively, it was just an offensive game out there tonight. I thought Sean had the courage in big moments to take those shots and make those shots.

ON PEDULLA’S OFFENSIVE DEVELOPMENT

Beard: One of the things we really try to work with Sean on, and it’s not easy, is that you’re an aggressive guy. You’re fearless. You’re a bucket. You want to help your team win. But our team, with these six double-digit scorers and the talent we have, we also need point guard play. Very similar to (Jaylen Murray’s) challenge. Both guys have been more than willing to try their best, and we never want players to not be their best version playing for us. We want them to be aggressive and play their game, especially transfers. But what does the team need?

Tonight there were moments when Juju and Sean both turned down some good shots for them to try to get a great shot for a teammate. But it’s that balance, and it’s not easy. An easier job is a pure point guard that has his job defined. Or an easier job is just a pure scorer. But when you start asking guys to do both, we want you to be aggressive, but we also want you to be a ball-mover. 

This is not easy, but it won’t be easy for Sean to play professional basketball and feed his family. But it’ll be possible, and I think probable, because he’s a smart guy. I feel the same way about Juju.

ON SNAPPING THE THREE-GAME SKID

Beard: I don’t see it like that. It’s not coach speak. This is the SEC. It’s an 18-round fight; you better have a short memory. We all kind of recognize when we’re on a winning streak because other people’s perception changes. We enjoy it. I don’t think of it as losing. You win the game or you run out of time. Either way, you get back to work quickly. With that being said, Captain Obvious, we need to protect our home court today. We understand the opportunities that we have coming after this game.

Must-win? Absolutely, but it’s March. What win in March isn’t a must-win? I guess some teams go to their conference tournament and maybe don’t value that, but that’s not us. We’ve always thought you want to go into the NCAA Tournament winning games. So, this is March. The whole idea of must-win, it’s real. But we talked about this way back from the summer when we put this team together.

“We feel the same thing the fans feel and everybody feels.”

I said, ‘Guys, don’t let the stress get to you. Just focus on the defensive end and the next-play mentality, not the next shot or what the scoreboard is even saying. We’ve got to get some stops and continue to really value our offensive possessions, too. But that’s what March is. Trust me, when you get to that tournament, it’s all must-win. You’re dying to go back to that hotel to have one more day with your teammates. You’re one game from the Sweet 16. 

Today we did tap into that. I appreciate our veteran players that have never experienced these March moments really trusting the coaching staff and executing for the most part mentally what we were trying to do.

MORE ON THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

Beard: This is what we were hired to do. Keith and I never talked about making the NCAA Tournament. It never came into conversation. We talked about making a run, which is also known as winning and then being one of those teams that could maybe win six games in three weekends. I’m very happy for the players where we are at this position. But we have so much more work to do. We’re just trying to build this program. It’s Year 2. Proud of the players and the story should be the players. We’ll see what we can get done here the rest of this month.