When a basketball coach has more passion or fights harder for his team than the players do, you tend to lose a lot games. The Rebels have done just that. Losers of four in a row, Ole Miss is now 3-6 in SEC play.
It won’t get any easier as the team is set to take on the Texas Longhorns Saturday. Texas has won two straight, over South Carolina and Oklahoma. They also boast victories over Georgia, Vanderbilt and Alabama. The Longhorns are 38th in the NET while the Rebs continue to slip, sitting at 83.
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Texas is led by their frontcourt. Center Mata Vokietaitis and forward Dailyn Swain lead the Horns in scoring and rebounding. Their senior led backcourt of Tramon Mark and Jordan Pope also average double digit scoring. Junior forward Camden Heide is an absolute sniper, shooting 52.7% on 74 attempts.
For the Rebels, AJ Storr and Malik Dia have led the way closely followed by freshman Patton Pinkins. They may lead in scoring but at an inefficient rate. In fact, the whole team is shooting 41.9% from the field during SEC play. They have also been out rebounded as a team by seven boards per game.
This is a broken team. Beard’s ejection against Tennessee was a plea to his team to have some heart. If the effort and energy were to improve, the talent would kick in and matter. The talent is there, but will it ever click?
Check out ESPN2 Saturday at 1:00 to see if any improvements have been made.
