The objective for Chris Beard and Ole Miss is to get Moussa Cisse 'back into the fold' as quick as possible
The holiday spirit of gift-giving came early for Chris Beard and the Ole Miss men’s basketball team as the NCAA offered up good news in the form of making Moussa Cisse eligible to play the rest of the season, starting immediately.
Beard received the news “minutes not hours” before the Rebels (6-0) tipped off against North Carolina State on Tuesday. That did not leave much time for Cisse to be game-ready, but the did dress out and take part in shoot around and pregame warmups for the first time all year.
Starting Saturday against Memphis and moving forward Beard will have both of his 7-foot-plus players available in Cisse and Jamarion Sharp. The latter has been in the starting line up for the first six games of the season and that should not change against the Tigers.
If Cisse plays the impact will be felt immediately for Ole Miss, in a positive way, but those looking for an immediate jump in overall play by the team may want to practice patience.
“This will be a real team objective to get Moussa back into the fold in terms of what he can do to help the team on both ends of the floor,” Beard said during his press conference on Thursday. “But this isn’t just magic. It’s not like we’re going to just snap our fingers and Moussa comes out there and everything’s alive and well. It’ll be a process getting him back into the fold. It’s going to take everybody.”
The Ole Miss center might be making his season debut against his former team on Saturday. Cisse’s college career started at Memphis out of Lausanne Collegiate School before transferring to Oklahoma State. He averaged 6.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game last season with the Cowboys.
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Cisse has been patiently awaiting his chance to take the court but while waiting has been a ‘leader’ for Ole Miss.
Throughout preseason camp in October and throughout the first month of the season Cisse has been a vocal presence in practice, according to Beard.
What kind of game-shape Cisse will be in is yet to be seen but in practices he has been making every minute count. One example Beard provided during Tuesday’s post game press conference was that Cisse stopped a recent practice at one point and gathered the team together to refocus.
“Teammates like him. He’s a likeable guy,” Beard said. “One of the most popular guys in our locker room but he also has the backbone to tell you how he feels. …He’s definitely a guy that we feel we can coach hard and that gives him the platform to maybe demand more from himself and his teammates as well.”
Ole Miss is still waiting on a final decision from the NCAA regarding Brandon Murray’s waiver situation, which would give the Rebels a full roster to work from with a handful of non-conference games and the full Southeastern Conference slate remaining.
