Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard met with the media following the Rebels' 76-62 loss to NC State Sunday afternoon.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Beard’s interview.
Opening statement…
This isn't about me, but today was probably, today was the hardest game I've ever coached. Wes Flanigan's father, Al Flanigan, and I don't say this lightly, maybe the best high school basketball coach to ever coach in our country. Al Flanigan from Little Rock Parkview, he's in the Hall of Fame, he's a winner, he's a man, Wes is dead.
We learned that he passed this morning, kind of unexpectedly, literally an hour before the game. And so I mean, Wes coached the game tonight, Flanigan blood. So I had known about Coach Flanigan, just by kind of a feeling in Duncanville, Texas, and just like in that category, Al Flanigan's one of the best it's ever done.
Little Rock Parkview High School, did it for years, did it his way. Changed so many young men's lives. I did the Little Rock job. One of the first people I want to meet is Coach Flanigan. He ended up being a real mentor and friend to me personally. It's not about me though, but today was hard.
Like I just told Wes in the locker room, I think this heaven deal, we all have different opinions, but I believe maybe what you love most in life, when you get to heaven, those things still exist within reason. So my idea is that Coach Flanigan's watching the game today. And I was really embarrassed at what he had to watch in the first half, but really proud of the second half.
I can kind of see coach sitting up there in heaven telling all the people that he missed on earth that he's now reconnected with, like, hey, these guys will love. These guys will come back and fight in the second half, if nothing else, pride. So to outscore NC State in the second half, to find five or six players that wanted to play Ole Miss basketball, I think there's some positives there.
But just prayers and thoughts with Wes and his family.
Coach Flanigan, you guys do your research, man, I don't say that lightly, man. Maybe the best high school basketball coaches ever coached the game in our country, just unbelievable. So heavy hearts today for Coach, so a lot of things are more important than basketball. And today was a reminder to all of us.
With the basketball game, I got a lot of respect for Will and how he builds teams. First year teams are hard, but I think he's got his guys improving from game to game. I know the last game might have been a little step back from them, but they certainly accepted the challenge of their coaches. Strong words in the last press conference he had.
So they're hard to guard. They have multiple playmakers on the floor. The three point shot is their weapon. And on defense, they can really disrupt when they're switching. I mean, many other things that they do. So I think it's a NCAA tournament team, even though they got some work to do with their resume.
But disappointed in our approach to the game, disappointed in our first half performance. But maybe there's something we can build on in the second half. I do think we played some better basketball in the second half.
We wish Will and those guys the best the rest of the season. And again, I thought today in the second half, we might have found something we can build on.
You had Malik returning last year, and NC State had Paul McNeil, how hard is it to recreate a roster with one returning player?
We're a no excuse program, but you asked the question. The problem with answering questions like that is people put the sound bites on there. So I would just say we are a no excuse program.
It's challenging whether you have players coming back or it's challenging whether your journey says NC State or NC Central. There's all sorts of challenges. But yeah, the whole thing is can you put together a team quickly?
We have been really, really good at it in the past. We've had teams with no returning players win it everywhere we've been. So this year, we're just not there yet. We had good human beings in our locker room. We just got a long way to go to play better basketball.
But yes, to answer your question, it is a challenge when you only have one returning player. And I think Will's doing a great job, and we're trying. We're gonna get it figured out.
On positive things to take away from the loss…
We got some contributions in the second half from guys that really haven't had major opportunities yet. And I did think, I enjoyed coaching the group that was in the second half. We had some spirit, we had some life. Just encouraging the guys, don't even look at the scoreboard, just play the game.
And I think with that timeout with maybe five, six minutes left, now your goal is can you get it under ten, then the pressure will change. And then NC State had a really good offensive possession where they got a corner three. We came down and got two back to back good looks, it just didn't go.
So I've won, I've actually won a few games like that over the years. Everything has to go right. It didn't go right for us down the stretch. But I did enjoy coaching the guys we had in the game in the second half.
How did NC State pull away in the second half? Was it shot-making or something NC State did schematically?
It was definitely not shot making. It was just an approach to the game. We weren't accomplishing anything we wanted to just from a fight standpoint, a competitive standpoint. And defensively, NC State's really hard to guard. If you double, they've got great spacing, great passers. They're literally playing with three playmakers in the lineup. I think that's the identity of their team.
Then on offense, we just couldn't manufacture much at all. Their switching bothered us, their post defense bothered us. And we had some untimely turnovers that didn't help. Again, some positives in the second half for Ole Miss, but the game's over at halftime unless you can really, really respond. And I thought we did a good job getting back in the game.
Thoughts on how Coach Wade is doing at NC State so far…
I don't know, I'm no expert. I watched the games with no volume on. I think they got a good team. It's a first year team. I think they're getting better. I think they have an identity on both ends of the floor. I think they have talent. The guys are gonna play the National Basketball Association on this team.
So what I noticed today, the only time I've seen a playing person was a connected group sharing the ball. For sure, obvious to me, they wanted to use the three point shot as a weapon and they were successful in doing that.
And then on defense today, they just really disrupted us. It was either they were really good at the block out today, or we just had no passion on the glass. I mean, I never coached a team with one offensive rebound at halftime. So I'm sure some of that credit's due to NC State's commitment to rebound better today, but I'm sure some of it's self-inflicted, no doubt.
You mentioned a three point shot of Ven-Allen Lubin, seven of eight underneath the basket. Just what makes him a typical matchup despite the fact that he is a bit undersized to be playing in the center position?
I think Will puts him in great positions on the court. It's apparent to me that he knows his role, where his spots are. Again, the pick and roll game is very difficult to defend when they have so much three point shooting on the floor.
I think he's a good player. I think he's, to me, I think we coached against him before, last year in a tournament, and he's kind of a double-double guy. He doesn't force, but at the end of the game, it's 15 and eight.
So I think you guys have a problem here with your printers and stuff. We don't have stat sheets, but I'm assuming that when you look at it at the end, it's a double-double, and they're pretty damn close.
