Roughly 12 minutes into his introduction as Ole Miss basketball coach last March, Chris Beard laid out his three non-negotiables.
“We’re going to be good people,” he said. “We’re going to go to class. And we’re going to play defense.”
Beard has done a lot of things to revitalize an Ole Miss program that had whimpered to a 7-29 SEC record in Kermit Davis’ final two seasons. But that third non-negotiable hasn’t been one of them.
The Rebels, once again, lacked the required defensive impetus in an 83-71 road loss to Mississippi State on Wednesday night at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Bulldogs (18-8, 7-6 SEC) shot 50% from the field, made 43% of their 3-pointers and got to the free-throw line 39 times. Had the hosts not missed 16 of those free throws, the Rebels (19-7, 6-7) might have suffered an even worse fate.
Those numbers are not normal for Mississippi State, which entered Wednesday’s action having surpassed 80 points against a power conference team exactly once all season. Its opposition on that occasion was Ole Miss.
Beard made it clear postgame that he wasn’t happy with the free-throw disparity. Maybe he has a case.
Still, the Bulldogs handed the Rebels a painful 40-minute lesson in how to play tough, tenacious basketball. And Ole Miss couldn’t match it.
“I thought the more physical team won the game,” Beard said, before diving into his feelings on the free-throw count.
Though the transfer portal has made it much easier to earn a March Madness bid as a first-year coach than it used to be ‒ six of last season’s 14 new power-conference coaches went dancing ‒ it’s unreasonable to expect a first-year coach to field a team that isn’t flawed.
It’s just jarring that Ole Miss’ primary problem exists where Beard has previously been so successful.
According to KenPom’s defensive efficiency metric, Beard’s previous seven teams at Texas, Texas Tech and Little Rock have each finished inside college basketball’s top 56. On five occasions, they’ve finished inside the top 20.
These Rebels rank 132nd nationally in defensive efficiency – and 12th in the SEC in conference games only.
Their duo of seven-footers, Moussa Cisse and Jamarion Sharp, have not been the shot-blocking cure-all to a perimeter defense that gets beaten off the dribble far too often.
RECAP: Mississippi State basketball beats Ole Miss to split series, hurt Rebels’ March Madness hopes
And, when the Rebels do get a stop, they often don’t pair it with a defensive rebound. The Bulldogs nabbed three offensive rebounds from missed free throws, turning 15 offensive boards on the night into 12 second-chance points. No team, since SEC play began, has been worse than the Rebels at keeping the opposition away from the offensive glass.
Now having lost four of five, and entering a vital two-game homestand against South Carolina and Alabama, Beard and his Rebels have two choices.
Rise to the non-negotiables Beard stipulated when he took the job, or miss the NCAA Tournament.
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at [email protected] or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss basketball defense exposed again in Mississippi State loss
