2 weeks Ago By Andrew Hughes
Ole Miss made a statement in an exhibition to benefit CASA of North Mississippi against Illinois in Oxford; such a statement in the 91-74 rout that The Daily Mississipian’s Nate Donohue felt empowered to say the Illini basketball program is “not what it used to be.” “Though Illinois is barely on the outside of the Top 25, the team still came in with high expectations after earning a three-seed in last year’s NCAA March Madness tournament,” Donohue prefaced before saying, “However, with AP third-team All-American guard Terrence Shannon Jr. getting drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Illinois’s roster, though still talented, is not what it used to be — and in this game, it showed.
” Rebels head coach Chris Beard brought Ole Miss their first 20-win season in five years during the 2023-24 season. It wasn’t good enough to get the Rebs into March Madness, though. Ole Miss lost 80-71 in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
Chris Beard explains how his Ole Miss men’s basketball team dominated Illinois Beard explained how he got his Rebels to handle the Illini so easily at home; crediting veteran savvy, shooting, and play-making defense for Ole Miss’s success in the inter-squad scrimmage. "We've got a lot of veteran guys," Beard said (h/t Clarion Ledger ). "We're a 3-point shooting team.
We're a post-up team. We've had some special moments in practice. "We forced a lot of turnovers.
There's several games inside the game. The turnover game is one." Ole Miss has the ingredients for a dark horse deep tournament run if they can win enough games in SEC play to qualify for March Madness.
Colorado State, BYU, Louisville, and Memphis represent potential resume-builders in conference play..
