The Ole Miss Men’s basketball team traveled to Birmingham, Ala., on Oct. 15 to compete in the Ballin in Boutwell preseason basketball showcase. There, they squared off against Alabama in a rare SEC versus SEC preseason matchup. The Crimson Tide, without star point guard Aden Holloway, defeated the Rebels 92-84 — a matchup in which Beard saw his team’s growth on display.
“Big picture, I think we got better from our first opportunity, which was a closed-door scrimmage (against Houston) about a week before that Alabama game, so I thought we did a lot of things better than we had done previously,” head coach Chris Beard said in a press conference on Oct. 22.
Senior guard transfer Adam (Budd) Clark left his first SEC matchup with several takeaways.
“(There) was a lot of good and a lot of bad. It was good to be playing against another opponent. … There’s a lot to learn from that game,” Clark said.
For the Rebels, the bright spots were glaring during the exhibition match.
Senior FIU transfer Corey Stephenson led the rebels with 25 points on an efficient 8-for-12 shooting off the bench. Budd Clark added 15 points along with seven assists and five rebounds and four steals. Patton Pinkins added 11 points.
Beard was impressed with his team’s guard play during this game.
“I think from a positive standpoint, a ten turnover game was a positive. We want to take (good) care of the ball,” Beard said.
Along with filling up the stat sheet, Clark also registered a team-high 36 minutes, suggesting a major role looming for this upcoming season.
“I see myself impacting in winning ways. I’ll do whatever it takes to win, whether it’s me scoring, passing, defending,” Clark said.
However, this team was heavily exploited in many ways, specifically in defense and rebounding.
The Crimson Tide cruised to 92 points on an efficient 50% from the field and dominated the Rebels on the glass, outrebounding them 45-28.
Sophomore forward Patton Pinkins hopes to help this group take strides to grow in that area.
“We’ve had this week to prepare for UAB, so just being more physical out here, being more of a leader out here talking to the guys knowing that we got to execute on the glass more going into the UAB game,” Pinkins said.
There was a glaring disparity between the teams from beyond the arc as well. The Crimson Tide connected on 11 triples, with the Rebels shooting a rather poor 4 out of 20 from deep.
“I’m not worried about the shooting at all. Guys (are) in here everyday shooting 300, 500 shots, so they’ll fall when the season comes,” Pinkins said.
On Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 7:30, Ole Miss Men’s Basketball will host the UAB Blazers in The Sandy and John Black Pavilion in what will be the last preseason exhibition game before the Rebels kick off regular season play.
This matchup also welcomes back former Ole Miss Men’s Basketball head coach Andy Kennedy, who served as head coach from 2006-2018. Kennedy is a coach that Beard has high respect for, encouraging him to schedule a game to bring him home to Oxford.
“When we take a new job over, we try to embrace the past … My original idea was to get AK (Andy Kennedy) back in the Tad Pad game. … I think we should honor the all-time winning coach that ever played here,” Beard said.
Beard and his staff are preparing for Tuesday night more like a real non-conference game, rather than a scrimmage.
“We’re tightening up the rotation a little bit. We still have a clear objective of getting some guys that have earned a game opportunity based on the way they’ve been practicing, but we’re going to try to make this more game-like,” Beard said.
Beard hopes to see his squad continue to grow in the right direction and show repeats of their promising talent in Tuesday’s game.
“Things that we did well, let’s build on it. … The things that we didn’t do well, you know, we got our guys’ full attention,” Beard said.
