Ole Miss basketball coach Chris Beard knew its game against Missouri was going to be a challenge. The Rebels were facing a team that was fresh off two SEC wins and tied atop the conference entering Jan. 10.
But Beard said they would walk out of Sandy and John Black Pavilion with a victory if they followed three keys they had focused on in practice: transition defense, rebounding and limiting turnovers.
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Which is what happened as Ole Miss (9-7, 1-2) defeated Missouri 76-69.
“Yeah, obviously a good win for us,” Beard said. “Within the game, a lot of respect for the opponent. They’re in first place in the SEC for a reason. Really good players, and Coach (Dennis Gates) does a great job setting them up. So it’s a quality win for us.”
Ole Miss won the turnover battle 13-7, had the edge in offensive rebounds 10-9 and limited Missouri (12-4, 2-1) to 49% shooting overall and just seven made 3-pointers.
“Missouri only got loose a couple of times on the fast break,” Beard said. “We were really concerned about that, so I thought our guys did a good job executing the game plan. Rebounding is always going to be the most important factor in any SEC game.
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“Trying to continue to be a team that takes care of the ball. They had about twice as many turnovers as we did. We kept it under eight, which is the goal.”
MORE: Ole Miss basketball beats Missouri, gets first SEC win of season
Ole Miss forward Malik Dia had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and AJ Storr led the team with a season-high 26 points.
“I was just trying to come in and be as aggressive as I could,” Storr said. “Really just have a (strong) mentality and be aggressive.”
Michael Chavez covers high school sports, among others, for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at mchavez@gannett.com or reach out to him on X, formerly Twitter @MikeSChavez.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Ole Miss basketball beat Missouri for first SEC win of season
