There are 'so many reasons' Chris Beard hopes Ole Miss plays well in return to the 'Tad Pad'
The last time Chris Beard stepped foot inside the C.M. ‘Tad’ Smith Coliseum was 13 years ago as an assistant coach under Bob Knight when Texas Tech took on Ole Miss in the quarterfinals of the 2010 NIT.
Ole Miss survived the Red Raiders in double overtime to advance to Madison Square Garden and the NIT semifinals.
Fast Forward to Friday and Beard is returning to the former home of Ole Miss basketball as the Rebels head coach looking to honors the program’s history with the “Throwback Game in the Tad Pad.” Beard is one who embraces a program’s history wherever he has coached and is bringing that to Oxford.
The purpose of the game is to also honor former Ole Miss head coach Rob Evans, who will be in attendance for the Rebels (3-0) game against Sam Houston State along with his wife.
Evans arrived in Oxford on Wednesday and spoke with the team prior to Thursday’s morning practice.
“I love it. I’m more of a historical guy,” Beard said on Wednesday when talking to the local media. “When I think of college basketball I think of great tradition. I think of great venues. So you walk in the building that had some great games, some great moments, some great individual performances. To me, I knew we were playing in a historic, older, classic college basketball arena.”
Friday’s game at 8 p.m. CT will be the 701st basketball game played inside the ‘Tad Pad.’ The game will also be the first played in the former Ole Miss arena in nearly eight years. The final men’s game inside the ‘Tad Pad’ was an overtime win over Troy on December 22, 2015.
Two weeks later the Rebels christened the SJB Pavilion against Alabama with its first Southeastern Conference home game of the 2015-16 season.
Since Tuesday’s win over Detroit Mercy Ole Miss has been practicing in the ‘Tad Pad’ to get used to the a new environment.
This will be the first time any player has stepped foot in the arena, including Matthew Murrell. The Memphis native never attended a game in the ‘Tad Pad’ prior to coming to Ole Miss.
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Along with Barnes there will be former Ole Miss players in attendance from the Barnes era as well as other eras in program history.
Of course there is still a game to be played against that is serving more as a backdrop to the pomp and circumstance.
The Bearkats (1-2) are coming off a season where they made it to the second round of the NIT and after the Rebels survived a scare by the Titans on Tuesday, Friday presents another challenge to stay undefeated.
“I hope we play well tomorrow night for so many reasons,” Beard said. “There is a lot of emotion around this game so we have to be careful that we understand it’s a 40-minute game. But I don’t apologize for having this event because there’s going to be emotion around any game if you’re going to win and do what we came to Oxford to do.
“We’re trying to get to the NCAA Tournament. A lot of emotion in that game, too. Next step for our team is to prove that we can handle a night like this.”
