WATCH: Beard’s undefeated Ole Miss basketball Rebels can’t get no respect
Chris Beard wants all of college basketball to put some respect on the name of his still-perfect Ole Miss Rebels.
They’re one of seven undefeated teams remaining in college basketball. Their latest win was a hard-fought 70-68 thriller at UCF on Sunday. Ole Miss won 13 total games a year ago, in what was the final season for Kermit Davis as head coach. Beard replaced Davis in March.
But despite the hot start, Ole Miss still isn’t ranked in the AP Top 25. Actually, to hear Beard tell it, the Rebels feel they aren’t getting anywhere near the attention they deserve.
“We’re just trying to trend in the right direction,” Beard said. “Certainly to win these nine games to start the season, I think it’s a credit to our guys. I do think we’re a team that’s going to have to demand some respect. We’ve won a lot of games. Not many undefeated teams left.
“Just not a lot of narrative on our team right now.”
Beard is looking to make Ole Miss the fourth separate program he’s led to the NCAA Tournament since 2016.
His 2019 Texas Tech Red Raiders reached the title game.
Ole Miss has danced just nine times in its history. The last appearance for the Rebels was Davis’s debut season in 2018-19. Ole Miss has won each of its first nine games for just the fourth time ever.
The Rebels did get some love from league coaches this week. They were No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25, their first time ranked in four years. Ole Miss next travels to San Antonio, Texas, for the 2023 Hall of Fame Series.
The Rebels will face California on Saturday, December 16, at 6:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.
“Our guys are using that,” Beard said. “They’re using that. We do appear to be kind of a team that does have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder right now. So, that’s good.”
Here’s everything Beard said in his postgame press conference, as well as highlights from Sunday’s win, all provided by Ole Miss Athletics.
