Everything Chris Beard said after Ole Miss survived South Carolina

No. 19 Ole Miss survived South Carolina on Wednesday. 

There isn’t another potential ‘bad loss’ left on the schedule. Forward to the NCAA Tournament, which would be just the 10th all-time in program history. 

Four Rebels scored double-digit points: Malik Dia (18), Jaemyn Brakefield (14), Dre Davis (12) and Matthew Murrell. Dia dropped in 12 straight in the second half alone. He was 7 for 12 from the floor, while adding three rebounds and a block in 21 minutes. 

Next for the Rebels (19-6, 8-4 SEC) is in-state rival Mississippi State. The No. 22-ranked Bulldogs (17-7, 5-6) roll into Oxford Saturday at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

Here’s everything second-year Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said in his postgame press conference.

OPENING STATEMENT 

Beard: I thought it was a good road win for our team. Free-throw differential put a lot of pressure on us to play really well down the stretch, which we did. I thought the fouls they caught on us were fouls, so no complaints there. South Carolina was the most aggressive team for portions of the game. Winning time’s when we played our best — the last four or five minutes of the game. That’s positive. 

It’s everything we thought it would be. It’s well-documented this team is good, well-coached and has an NBA player on it. They’ve been in a lot of games like this. They’re going to win games in this league. I’m just happy it wasn’t at our expense tonight. 

But a lot of respect for South Carolina and their coaching staff. Followed this program in recent history when Frank (Martin) was here. Good friend of mine. So, nothing but respect for the opponent. It’s hard to win on the road in the SEC. Thought we could never really get into a rhythm offensively or defensively tonight. A big reason to that was South Carolina. So, a lot of respect for them.

ON DIA’S PERFORMANCE

Beard: It was a step in the right direction, I think, for Dia’s not only season but career. We coach Dia hard. A lot of players around the country probably wouldn’t want to or could take the high expectations we put on him. It’s no reason other than we believe in him. We think there’s a ceiling for him that could take our team to another level. 

For him to not play his best for most of the game, was in foul trouble, some of it self-inflicted, but then to come out and have the poise/confidence/belief in himself to play his best in winning time, that last four, five, six minutes of the game, I think was a great step for him. And something he can pull back from as his career goes on.

ON USC’S TOUGH SECOND-HALF DEFENSE

Beard: South Carolina was just kind of imposing their will on us. They were committed to the high-low and getting inside. I think even in the first half their last nine possessions of the half they got the ball in the paint. We had to do something crazy. Coach (Rick) Pitino is a friend of mine. I saw something this week actually where his team, I believe Louisville, they went to the Final Four and were playing in Albuquerque against West Virginia and couldn’t guard them. I wasn’t in the locker room, but I believe coach Pitino to be a truth-teller, so story goes they just kind of drew up a zone at halftime or went back to man-to-man. Either/or. But basically drew it up on the board at halftime. 

That’s kind of what we did tonight to steal a couple possessions in a 3-2 zone look to basically try to keep the ball out of the paint. That was a big part of the game — our players’ willingness to believe and try some new things. They were in a rhythm where we couldn’t keep the ball out of the paint. We had to pull out the clipboard or dry-erase board and try something. 

ON THE BYE WEEK APPROACHING

Beard: We don’t get much sleep, but I’ve never been a big fan of putting the coach or player on a different kind of pedestal because of how they work. My mom was a cross-walk worker for an elementary school. She woke up every day and took the kids across the street and went back at 3 p.m. when school ended. She had to take care of my old man at night, so she didn’t get much sleep ever and nobody asked her about it. Everybody works in college basketball. Who doesn’t grind in this profession? Sleep is precious. 

In the SEC we get the one bye week. Ours is coming up after our next game. We certainly don’t look too far ahead, but it wouldn’t be truthful to tell you that everybody in our program knows when that bye is so we can get a couple days off and a little more sleep. 

MORE ON THE FREE-THROW DIFFERENTIAL

Beard: No complaints on the other side of the floor. We were fouling (and) they were demanding the foul call. The discrepancy on the other end is where we were a little frustrated, but our guys did a good job keeping our poise and continued to try to drive the ball to the basket. It looked to me South Carolina was committed to taking away our 3-point shot tonight. We only got 13 or 14 attempts, but we made a high percentage. It’s really the difference in the game. They out-rebounded us and got to the free throw line. The turnovers were even. Our ability to use a 3-point shot to manufacture a few more points and it was ultimately a one-possession game was really the difference in the game. 

“Offensive rebounding was non-existent for us most of the game.”

But when we needed it most we came up with some second-possession opportunities late. We’ve got to be a better offensive rebounding team than we were tonight for the first 35 minutes of the game. Give South Carolina a lot of credit. I know they’ve been in a lot of games like this and it just seems like every night’s the same narrative, but that’s a well-coached team with good players that have an identity on offense and defense. They’re hard to guard and present challenges for your offense. 

Pleased we won tonight. There’s no asterisk next to this. We knew this was going to be really, really hard. We expected a one-possession game. That’s what we got.