Chris Beard Reflects on Ole Miss Basketball's Heartbreaking Loss to Texas A&M

The Ole Miss Rebels lost their lead in the final seconds on Wednesday night to drop a game to Texas A&M.

Jan 18, 2025; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard reacts during the second half against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Humphrey Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

After starting 4-0 in SEC play, the No. 16 Ole Miss Rebels have taken two losses in dramatic fashion as a Texas A&M three-pointer with seconds left gave the Aggies their first lead of the night on Wednesday and eventually a 63-62 win.

This was a heartbreaking result for the Rebels (15-4, 4-2 SEC) who led the entirety of the game before the pivotal three. Following the loss, head coach Chris Beard discussed what went wrong and what can be gleaned from this result as Ole Miss looks to move ahead in SEC play.

“We have nobody to blame but ourselves for this," Beard said. "We had the game almost mathematically won. We've just got to be able to inbound the ball, break a press, accept the foul and make some free throws, and we just weren't able to do that tonight.

"Lots of lessons in this game. You hope a painful night like tonight, maybe there's some silver lining in the end. It's a long season. If we can learn from this, we can become a better team, finishing off a game when we have a lead big enough where we should win the game.”

The Rebels have lost four games so far in 2024 with three of those losses coming by a combined six points. That's a tough pill to swallow, but nonetheless, Ole Miss has to find a way to pick itself up as the SEC schedule won't get any easier with a tough stretch ahead.

Outside of a potential learning experience, Beard did find another silver lining and spoke about the atmosphere at The Pavilion as a massive crowd showed up on a Wednesday night for an 8 p.m. tip.

“Appreciate the crowd," Beard said. "I just apologize to everyone who came to the game. I know you come to the game wanting to win, and we were so close to getting that done for everybody tonight. ... Nobody feels worse than we do. We feel like we let a lot of people down tonight.”

The Rebels hit the road for Columbia, Missouri, this weekend as they face another tough SEC foe in a hot Missouri team who has some big home wins this season. Tip-off on Saturday is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network.

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