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Game Preview: Chris Beard's Ole Miss stands in the way of a third straight win for the Texas Longhorns

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•01/29/25•

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Rodney Terry
Jan 11, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry yells out to players during the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Moody Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Texas is used to facing old coaches. The Longhorns faced a Marquette team coached by Shaka Smart last season and are in the same conference with Rick Barnes‘ Tennessee.

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But Wednesday night’s game is different. Texas (14-6, 3-4 SEC) is not facing a coach that it urged to look for another job. Texas is not facing a coach that it asked to step down. Texas is facing a team in No. 23 Ole Miss (15-5, 4-3 SEC) coached by a man the university dismissed due to off-court events.

Chris Beard was fired with cause by UT on January 5, 2023 in the wake of a domestic violence arrest on December 12, 2022. Charges were eventually dropped by the Travis County district attorney after Beard’s then-fiancée and alleged victim Randi Trew released a statement saying Beard acted in self defense, did not strangle her, and that she did “not believe Chris was trying to intentionally harm me in any way.”

The handling of Beard’s exit by the university became a divisive issue for fans of Texas basketball and within the college basketball world. Some viewed the dismissal as an exoneration. Others believed that the initial arrest and image of him in county colors disqualified him from holding his post any longer.

Either way, Beard’s time in Austin officially ended a few weeks later with Texas’ decision to fire with cause.

The blow of his departure was softened by current Texas head coach Rodney Terry‘s ability to guide the Longhorns to the Big 12 Tournament title and the program’s first Elite Eight appearance in over a decade. Terry parlayed that run into the permanent job, where he is now 57-27 as head coach of the Longhorns.

Beard, who ended his time on the 40 Acres with a 29-13 record, laid low for two months before he was hired by an Ole Miss program that often found itself filling in the also-ran role in the SEC. The Rebels, a program with fewer total NCAA tournament bids (9) than Texas’ March Madness appearances since the end of the 2009-10 season (10), were willing to take on Beard despite his unpleasant and forced departure from his dream job at Texas.

Ahead of the matchup between Terry and his former boss in Beard, neither coach spoke about the upcoming reunion during their most recent postgame press conferences nor did they have midweek availabilities to comment on the game. Texas looks to extend its conference winning streak to three games and return to .500 in SEC play, while the Rebels are looking to avoid a four-game skid after climbing to as high as No. 16 in the AP Poll

This won’t be Beard’s first time interacting with Texas since his dismissal, as he and UT athletics director Chris Del Conte crossed paths in May at SEC Spring Meetings in Destin.

It is, however, the only scheduled meeting between the two teams this year.

When facing recent former head coaches, the Longhorns are 1-2 versus Barnes and 0-1 versus Smart. Beard notched the only win for Texas in these types of games on January 29, 2022 during a celebratory return for Barnes to the Erwin Center capped by a 52-51 burnt orange victory. Since then, Texas has lost two to Tennessee, including one last year in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and the sole matchup with Marquette in Milwaukee.

On Wednesday, Terry looks to notch the second win for the Longhorns over teams coached by the three previous head coaches, and another victory against a former boss, when his squad takes on Beard’s Rebels at The Pavilion at Ole Miss.

Tuesday night injury report

Terry said postgame on Saturday that Arthur Kaluma: “With Kaluma, that’s going to be a day-to-day type situation. He was not available today. We never want to put a youngster out there that is not at full strength. Our training staff, we have one of the best in the country. They’ll do a great job. When Arthur’s ready to go and he’s fully healthy to be out on the floor, we’ll have him out there at that time.”

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Game notes via UT

GameDay Quick Facts

  • TELEVISION: The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2 with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Dane Bradshaw (analyst) on the call.
  • RADIO: The Longhorn Radio Network broadcasts every UT game on the statewide network. Craig Way (pxp) and Eddie Oran (analyst) will call the action. Check TexasSports.com for a listing of affiliates carrying the game.
  • SERIES: Texas leads, 9-6. Last meeting: Texas 85-72 (Jan. 27, 2018; Austin)

Notables

  • COMEBACK HORNS: Texas’ 22-point comeback (down 51-29 with 17:07 remaining) during Saturday’s home win over No. 13/13 Texas A&M tied for the largest comeback by the Longhorns since at least the start of the 1998-99 season. 
  • STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: The Longhorns will face an AP Top 25 opponent for the seventh time in their last eight contests when they travel to play No. 23 Ole Miss on Wednesday. Texas has won each of its last two games against ranked opponents with home victories over No. 22 Missouri and No. 13 Texas A&M. 
  • JOHNSON’S CAREER DAY: Tre Johnson, who earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Monday for the second time this year, set his collegiate career high in scoring with 30 points (career-best 10-10 FT) and added four assists, two blocks and one steal in 37 minutes during Saturday’s win over No. 13/13 Texas A&M. 

2024-25 Texas Longhorns

Tre Johnson, 6-foot-6, 190 lbs, Fr., Link Academy (Mo.), 18.8 pts, 2.7 reb, 2.1 ast

Arthur Kaluma, 6-foot-7, 225 lbs, Sr., Kansas State, 13.8 pts, 8.2 reb, 2.1 ast

Jordan Pope, 6-foot-2, 175 lbs, Jr., Oregon State: 12.1 pts, 1.6 reb, 1.7 ast

Tramon Mark, 6-foot-5, 200 lbs, Gr., Arkansas: 9.3 pts, 3.4 reb, 1.2 ast

Kadin Shedrick, 6-foot-11, 231 lbs, Gr.: 8.0 pts, 6.0 reb, 0.5 ast

Chendall Weaver, 6-foot-3, 180 lbs, Jr.: 6.7 pts, 5.1 reb, 1.5 ast

Julian Larry, 6-foot-3, 185 lbs, Gr., Indiana State: 5.3 pts, 1.6 reb, 3.9 ast

Jayson Kent, 6-foot-8, 215 lbs, Gr., Indiana State: 4.5 pts, 2.1 reb, 0.7 ast

Ze’Rik Onyema, 6-foot-9, 235 lbs, Sr.: 4.1 pts, 2.8 reb, 0.4 ast

Devon Pryor, 6-foot-7, 185 lbs, So.: 3.2 pts, 1.6 reb, 0.6 ast

Nic Codie, 6-foot-8, 200 lbs, Fr., Dallas (Texas) Newman Smith: 2.5 pts, 1.2 reb, 0.2 ast

Jamie Vinson, 6-foot-11, 225 lbs, Fr., Oak Hill Academy (Va.): 2.5 pts, 1.3 rebs, 0.1 ast

Cole Bott, 6-foot-6, 195 lbs, Gr. (walk-on): 0.7 pts, 0.3 rebs, 0.5 ast

Preston Clark, 6-foot-6, 220 lbs, R-So. (walk-on): 0.3 pts, 1.5 rebs, 0.3 ast

Malik Presley, 6-foot-6, 200 lbs, So., Vanderbilt

Anthon McDermott, 6-foot-5, 185 lbs, Fr., Hallsville (Texas) (walk-on)

Previous game’s starters for Ole Miss

F Malik Dia: 10.0 pts, 6.2 reb, 1.0 ast

G Sean Pedulla: 14.3 pts, 3.3 reb, 3.7 ast

F Jaemyn Brakefield: 10.4 pts, 5.0 reb, 1.9 ast

G Matthew Murrell: 11.3 pts, 3.4 reb, 2.1 ast

G Jaylen Murray: 11.6 pts, 2.4 reb, 3.9 ast

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