Following Ole Miss’s loss to Alabama, Chris Beard spoke at length about a night that extended beyond the final score, addressing a pregame social justice initiative, Alabama’s second-half surge, and where his team stands moving forward.
Here’s everything Beard said.
Opening Statement…
Tonight we participated in a program, an awareness group that I’m proud to be a part of. It’s the Racism with Angela and the College Insiders, bringing out awareness and educating people on Coach McClendon, one of the best coaches that ever coached college basketball at North Carolina Central.
This game was no secret and if you guys haven’t heard about that, but I recommend that you look into it. It’s one of the great stories in the history of college basketball where basketball made a difference in the world. And so we still live in this world today with a lot of social injustice and racism. I think one part of it is just continuing to talk about it and put it out there front and center. And so we were proud to be a part of tonight and I appreciate Angela and their group, they created this shoe. I know Coach (Kelvin) Sampson at Houston the other night, his team represented this group and we did tonight, so we did it proudly. This game’s no secret, Coach McClendon again bringing awareness to a great cause.
In terms of the basketball game, I should congratulate Alabama on a road win in the SEC. Obviously on a night where they make 17 threes, they’re going to be a tough out for anybody. First half I thought our guys did a lot of really good things. One possession game at halftime, it was a ten-point game about seven minutes left. It kind of ballooned on us late. I don’t think the final score is really indicative of what happened in the game tonight. Really tough to guard, their ability to shoot the three and kind of spread us out. Our defense not only didn’t do a good job defending the three tonight, we just couldn’t force turnovers as well. You got to do one or the other. You got to sit back and really try to guard their actions and their personnel or you got to try to create some turnovers. Alabama took care of the ball tonight at kind of a season best rate. And again, when you hit 17 threes it’s going to be hard to win on the other end. I thought we had a couple of good performances. Obviously AJ played aggressive tonight, scored the ball at a high rate. His foul trouble in the first half kind of impacted us. I’ve never been a guy to sit guys with foul trouble in the first half. Just each game is kind of a decision. I thought as long as we could hold the lead, then we’d try to get AJ back in there in the first half. It really set it up for what I was hoping would be a really good game in the second half. Looking back probably should have stuck with AJ in the first half and maybe try to have a lead at halftime. I thought (Eduardo) Klaffke played another just kind of physical game, rebounded the ball, played a lot of courage. Got some different moments from other players, but nobody else more consistent to beat a team like Alabama.
On writing a letter to Charles Bediako, who played five games with Alabama before a judge ruled him ineligible…
It’s a personal deal. I think I was just thinking about Charles, the human being. I don’t know him. I’ve seen him play a lot of basketball, he’s a good player. I have no dog in a fight in terms of the whole situation, but I do know there’s a human being involved in watching some of the stuff that was going on at the games and things. I think as human beings, we can encourage other people. It doesn’t always have to be somebody that you know. And so, yeah, it was just a personal thing. But I was just writing Charles the human being a letter to let him know that a lot of people out there pulling for him in his next basketball step.
On leading in points in the paint and bench points…
Well, the points in the paint, you know, when the opponent makes 17 threes, that’s going to be a hard one to find a positive in that. We had some good contributions tonight (off the bench). Obviously, A.J. being unselfish and trying to do whatever he can, whatever we ask of him. So, when A.J. Storr comes off your bench, you’re going to have some bench production. But I do think we did have some possessions with each player making a positive impact on our team. We just didn’t have enough consistent performance.
On what’s not translating between practices and games…
One thing I would say is just recognize the opponent. Again, it’s a one possession game at halftime. We’re without Kezza (Giffa) tonight, one of our best players, especially in a game like tonight where we need the ball handling out there. I thought Kezza played maybe his best game at Ole Miss last time out on the road at Texas. That didn’t help us any.
I think this team continues to fight. I don’t think the final score is indicative of what went on out there for the first 35, 36 minutes of the game. I still have a lot of belief in our players. I appreciate how they’ve approached the tough times we’ve gone through so far this season. And just looking forward to getting back on the practice floor with these guys tomorrow and trying to create a great game plan to have some success in our next game.
Status of Kezza Giffa…
Kezza got popped in the (Texas) game. I think it was a play where he might have ran into the goal. He played the rest of the game just through adrenaline and stuff and then just has a problem with his leg. Nothing serious where it’s going to impact his career. I’m hopeful he’ll be back with us this season. But I would say kind of week-by-week at this point. I don’t anticipate him playing Saturday. But I do think he’ll rejoin the team at some point.
On Alabama’s improvement on three-pointers in the second half…
I think from my neck and eye, you’d have to give us some credit for their three-point percentage in the first half because I thought we were rotating. We were flying around. In the second half, I did not see the closeouts and the rotations. Give them credit. From my vantage point, their halftime adjustment was they were driving to pass and we got caught in between when to help and when to stay on the shooters. We tried to counter that with a couple adjustments and things just didn’t go our way. But give Alabama a lot of credit. It’s a good game plan tonight. And again, when they hit 17 threes and have a low-turnover game, they’re going to be a tough out.
On Malik Dia’s limited playing time…
Just need more consistency from Malik. Tonight, Alabama went small. They only had one big on the floor. As a matter of fact, for some of the game, they had no bigs on the floor. Augusto (Cassia) continues to be deserving of an opportunity. Corey (Chest) did a couple good things when he was in there. James (Scott) played hard tonight. So, it’s basically, you know, trying to play four players in one position. So, it’s a coaching decision.
