Everything Chris Beard said after Ole Miss survived Texas, his former team

No. 23 Ole Miss snapped a three-game SEC losing streak with a 72-69 win over Texas Wednesday night. 

The Rebels (16-5, 5-3 SEC) tied their season-best with just four turnovers. Senior guards Sean Pedulla and Matthew Murrell combined for nine assists and no turnovers. 

Pedulla scored double-digit points (19) for the 16th time this season. He led the Rebels in scoring, the eighth time he’s done so. Jaemyn Brakefield chipped in 18, while Dre Davis, who sat out Missouri with an injury, had 17. 

Davis also had a team-high seven rebounds. Three Rebels grabbed five or more.

Ole Miss held Texas (14-7, 3-5) to 22.7 percent shooting from 3. The Rebels in 10 games this season have limited their opponent to less than 30.0 percent from deep. Ole Miss made 19 of 25 free throws.

Ole Miss hosts top-ranked Auburn (19-1, 7-0) in the Rebels’ second straight home game on Saturday. Tipoff is 1 p.m. CT on ESPN.

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

OPENING STATEMENT

Beard: Just really appreciate the crowd tonight. Student section, man, we’re building something special here. Just another really good night in The Pavilion — not only the attendance, but just the environment. Very, very appreciative of everybody that’s coming to these games. Very appreciative of all the work that’s gone into trying to create this home-court advantage. Year 2, we’re definitely going in the right direction. 

Our team really needed a win tonight. You know, Captain Obvious. This three-game stretch, if you think about it, overtime loss where we had a chance to win, a home game we really let slip away and then even the other day at Missouri it’s a two-possession game with about eight minutes left. Our players continue to put us in positions where we have chances to win these games. 

“Tonight I’m just, above all, really happy for them.”

Different ways to win a basketball game. We got to the free throw line; made more free throws than our opponent shot. Thought we were the more aggressive team for segments of the game against a really good, well-coached team. 

Obviously took care of the ball. Four turnovers in 40 minutes against a team that’s as talented as our opponent. I was really proud of our ball security. They out-rebounded us and had some special performances, especially Tre (Johnson). Basket got big there for him for a while.

But give our guys credit; we found a way to win the game when we really needed a win against a quality opponent.

ON DRE DAVIS

Beard: A lot of respect for Dre. He’s banged up. Not even having a chance to practice and go through his normal routines and stuff. For him to have the courage to not only play but make up his mind he was going to play well. 

Last game he didn’t get to play and we’re right there in a two-possession game at Missouri, who I think’s really good. We’ve been playing some good basketball in this stretch. This is life in the SEC. 

But today Dre Davis, just the utmost respect. Just countless hours in the training room, basically around the clock, and then the same thing with Matt Murrell. It’s a long season (and) we’ve got the best trainer in college basketball, John Raybon. Great team doctor. 

A lot of respect for Dre on a night where most guys wouldn’t even play. He goes out there and he’s the best player on the floor for segments of the game. 

ON GETTING THE WIN BEFORE NO. 1 AUBURN

Beard: This is an 18-round fight. I don’t know much about momentum; we’re just trying to put ourselves in a position to have some good practices and give the guys the best possible game plan we can. Be prepared and confident to try to play our best on game nights. 

I’ve always thought it’s kind of too early for that. I’ve always thought you get through the first round of conference play and you kind of see where you’re at and what it’s going to take to win the league.

Tough stretch for us, but again, lots of good basketball against a quality opponent during that stretch. Just trying to remind the guys the sun’s going to come up tomorrow and we’ve got another chance to play SEC basketball.

ON THE WIN IMPACTING TEAM CONFIDENCE

Beard: It’s just the next game on the schedule. We don’t overreact during victory. Stay humble and get back to work. When things don’t go our way, you guys say we lost three games in a row, I see it a little bit different. I thought we ran out of time on two of those games. To me there’s a difference between running out of time and losing. 

ON DAVON BARNES WANTING THE FINAL FREE THROWS

Beard: I don’t know what it meant for him, but I can speak from my point of view. A lot of confidence in Barnes. He puts in the time. There’s never been a player that ever played this game that doesn’t want to get up there in those moments. You want to make the free throw; everybody does. It’s have you paid the price to make the free throw? And then do you have the calmness and the discipline to go through your routine — get your breaths right and all that. 

Barnes definitely pays the price. I think it was two games ago I leave here and go over to the Tuohy basketball facility like we do every night and the ball’s bouncing. Barnes is on that free throw line. 

When you see that as a coach you’re just really proud of that because that’s how life works, too. When things don’t go your way you can either take your ball and go home and start making excuses or you can get back in the gym and start practicing. 

I certainly can’t predict things, but if you would have asked me is Barnes going to make these two free throws I would have bet about everything I have on that, because to me he earned the right in the past four or five days with the preparation he put in to mentally get back in that position. So proud of Barnes. Big difference in the free throw differential tonight. 

ON GETTING TO THE LINE MORE

Beard: We definitely wanted to be aggressive. Some of that is trying to get into the bonus. We had some good off-the-ball plays early to get in the bonus in both halves. We just wanted to stay aggressive. Texas is obviously a talented team that relies a lot on one-on-one defense. Just reminding those guys in those moments to have the courage to make a play in a one-on-one moment. Not necessarily just to score the ball but to initiate contact and play off two feet. 

Not only do we have some good free throw success tonight but we also had some really good inside-out basketball. Didn’t shoot a great percentage from 3; we can shoot so much better. But it seemed like for most of the night we were getting the right shots. 

ON JAEMYN BRAKEFIELD’S PHYSICALITY

Beard: Brake’s heart was in the right place tonight. He had the courage to be physical. I think some of those plays it’d be better served just playing off of two feet and kind of gathering late. Our terminology is is you’re never stuck. At the end of the day if you get in there you’re not stuck; you’ve got three seconds, sometimes four and a half, depending on where you are. But the first thing you’ve got to do is have the courage to take big shots. I think Brake was doing everything he could to help this team win tonight. 

Brake’s one of the best passers, position-less players I’ve ever coached. There’s a whole another ceiling for our offense if we can help him get in positions where he can start having six, seven assists a game down the stretch.