Ole Miss made life miserable for Central Arkansas on Friday night.
The Rebels forced turnovers, disrupted passing lanes, turned defensive stops into easy baskets and made a team Chris Beard believes will reach the NCAA Tournament look completely overmatched.
And yet, after a 92-60 victory, Beard still wasn’t ready to declare his defense a finished product.
“It’s a work in progress,” he said in his postgame press conference. “I think we have the pieces. In my early-season opinion, it’ll come down to discipline.”
That’s because there’s a difference between having the physical ability to overwhelm an opponent and having the discipline to do it consistently.
Ole Miss certainly showed it has the former.
UCA committed 18 turnovers and made just 19 field goals. The Rebels recorded 10 steals, blocked five shots and held the Bears to 38% shooting from the field.
More importantly, Ole Miss made those defensive stops count on the other end of the floor.
The Rebels scored 20 points off turnovers and held a 20-2 advantage in fast-break points.
That’s exactly the kind of identity Ben Henshall believes this team can develop.
“I think everything starts on the defensive end,” Henshall said. “It creates a lot of offensive opportunities for us.”
Ole Miss forced 12 turnovers in the first half alone, six of which came on steals. The Rebels turned those mistakes into 12 points while allowing UCA just 24 points before halftime.
That’s not just good defense. That’s the kind of defense that can win basketball games when shots aren’t falling on the other end.
And considering Beard’s comments about UCA’s talent level earlier in the week, Friday’s performance becomes even more impressive.
“I think Central Arkansas will be in the NCAA Tournament,” Beard said. “They’re really hard to guard. There’s a reason they won their championship last year, and they’re picked again to do it this year.”
But Beard knows the Rebels aren’t going to overwhelm every opponent with their athleticism and physicality.
And the second half provided a few reminders of why.
After holding UCA to just 2-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc in the first half, Ole Miss watched the Bears make seven of their 16 three-point attempts after halftime.
That’s 43.8% shooting, a significant improvement from the 16.7% the Rebels allowed in the opening 20 minutes.
UCA also scored 36 second-half points after managing just 24 in the first.
The Rebels committed 10 personal fouls in the second half, giving the Bears additional opportunities at the free throw line.
Those numbers don’t erase what Ole Miss accomplished defensively, but they help explain why Beard isn’t completely satisfied.
“I think we have the athleticism. We’ve got some physical toughness. We don’t have any soft guys on this team,” Beard said. “I think our defense will end up being about our discipline. Tonight, there was some good discipline. Then there were those glaring mistakes, like a guy gets back-cut all of a sudden, and we’ve been working on it for three days.”
And that’s where the Rebels’ biggest challenge lies.
Anyone watching Friday night could see the potential for Ole Miss to become a suffocating defensive team. The athleticism is there. The effort is there. And the willingness to turn defense into offense is certainly there.
Now comes the harder part.
Learning to play that way for 40 minutes, against opponents whose status as a NCAA Tournament team isn’t in doubt.
