Reb Talk Review: Texas A&M was a 'measuring stick' game for Ole Miss despite loss

For about 95 percent of Wednesday’s game the Ole Miss men’s basketball team was playing some of its best basketball in certain areas. Then the last five percent was four minutes to forget about.

The closing stretch saw No. 13 Texas A&M overcome a deficit and take its first lead of the game in the final 13 seconds for the 62-63 win over the No. 16th-ranked Rebels inside the SJB Pavilion.

Heartbreak, stunner and any other descriptors are applicable to how the game ended and Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard would agree with all of them. He would also concur that his team was the better team for the first 36 minutes.

Roughly 22 hours later Beard was still feeling the sting of the loss but during his first Reb Talk appearance of the Southeastern Conference season he also found some positives when reflecting back.

“I was proud of the team. I thought in the first 36 minutes and 30 seconds of the game we played about as well as we could play basketball,” Beard said. “Real measuring stick for us. The last game we played at the Pavilion last year was against Texas A&M and we weren’t really competitive in that game. So just 10 months later all the work that’s gone into this, I thought we were more than competitive.”

The game Beard is referencing was the 86-60 defeat at the hands of the Aggies last March to close out the regular season. Just five days later the two teams met in the first round of the SEC Tournament Nashville with the Aggies once again winning but only by a nine-point margin.

Progress is progress but Beard and the Rebels (15-4, 4-2 SEC) know they let one slip away for a second-straight game. Last Saturday’s overtime loss at No. 14 Mississippi State stings a little more after Wednesday’s result.

“I’m not going to let that go unnoticed with the players. Lets talk about the first 36 minutes of the game where we did a lot of really good things against, what I think, is one of the best teams in the country,” Beard added.

“As disappointing as the end was I think it’s really important we keep things in perspective. It’s an 18-round fight. Got to have some short-term memory around here. We just got to bounce back and Saturday’s a great opportunity to do that.”

Ole Miss will travel to No. 22 Missouri (15-4, 4-2) on Saturday for a fourth straight game against a ranked opponent. Tip off is at 5 p.m. CT and will air on SEC Network.

Beard was also complimentary of the Ole Miss fans that filled the SJB Pavilion.

Wednesday’s game drew 10,008 fans to the arena for the second-largest crowd in program history. Of that crowd 3,445 of them were Ole Miss students.

With 90 minutes to go before tip off the three student sections that surround the court were at max capacity. Remaining students still filing into the SJB Pavilion were directed to auxillary seating all around the arena.

The strong showing by Ole Miss fans did not go unnoticed by the second-year head coach.

“When we came here we had several objectives and one of the objectives high up the list was to try and create one of the best home-court advantages in college basketball,” Beard said. “In just our second year, first SEC game with the students in session, I don’t know if we could be much better. So appreciative of all the students that came out, especially with the cold weather and all.

“Our season ticket holders showed up in a record-setting fashion. Almost every sit was filled. I’m sure many of our season ticket holders couldn’t come to the game but they made sure somebody was in the seats. Just an awesome night in terms of attendance and environment.”