{"id":146439,"date":"2025-01-16T12:09:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T18:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=146439"},"modified":"2025-01-16T12:09:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T18:09:44","slug":"ole-miss-mens-basketball-puts-nation-on-notice-with-upset-win-at-no-4-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/ole-miss-mens-basketball-puts-nation-on-notice-with-upset-win-at-no-4-alabama\/","title":{"rendered":"Ole Miss Men\u2019s Basketball Puts Nation on Notice with Upset Win at No. 4 Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As conference play gets underway, the contenders are being separated from the pretenders, and in this week\u2019s upset win at No. 4 Alabama<\/strong>, No. 21 Ole Miss<\/strong> made a strong case as a contender in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Beard<\/strong>\u2019s squad turned in a clean effort on all fronts to overcome a four-point halftime deficit, holding Alabama to just 28 points in the second half to win 74-64 for the first top-five road win in program history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Proud of our players for a lot of reasons. Top of the list, I do believe Alabama is one of the best teams in the country. This is our second year at Ole Miss, we came here to build a program that can compete with teams like this, and tonight, we did more than compete,” said Head Coach Chris Beard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stick to the Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Going into the night, Alabama was No. 1 in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 91.1 points per game. The Tide also entered as one of the country\u2019s most dominant rebounding teams, ranking No. 2 nationally in total rebounds and No. 8 in offensive boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Alabama averaged 91.1 PPG entering tonight’s game against Ole Miss. The Rebels held the Crimson Tide to just 64 in a 10-point win. A Chris Beard masterclass in Tuscaloosa.\u2014 Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) January 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Beard and his staff drew up a plan to slow the nation\u2019s fastest offense, attack the glass on both ends and generate offense with patience and balance. The Rebels checked every box, holding the Crimson Tide to a season-lows in points (64) and offensive rebounds (4), and their second-worst rebounding total (39), while five finished in double figures offensively for Ole Miss, led by Malik Dia\u2019s 23-point, 19-rebound double-double.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nation on Notice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alabama opened as a 9.5-point betting favorite for this contest, but behind that balanced effort and Dia\u2019s star power, Ole Miss flipped the spread with a 10-point road victory against a Final Four team from a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In hoops big winners were @OleMissMBB<\/a> with a big road W vs # 4 in the nation @AlabamaMBB<\/a> 74-64. @CoachBeard<\/a> doing a fab job now 15-2. Also in @SEC<\/a> tip hat to @MizzouHoops<\/a> with win on road 83-82 over # 5 @gatorhoops<\/a> .\u2014 Dick Vitale (@DickieV) January 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now, Ole Miss stands atop the SEC at 4-0 alongside the only other unbeaten team in league play, No. 1 Auburn. The road doesn\u2019t get any easier for Ole Miss. The Rebels remain on the road against another ranked foe in No. 15 Mississippi State this weekend. Then No. 11 Texas A&M comes to town. The top-ranked Tigers, No. 8 Kentucky and No. 6 Tennessee are all coming to the SJB Pavilion as well\u2014but all now know what the Rebels are capable of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It\u2019s early. We\u2019re just trying to win the next game on the schedule. But I think not recognizing the kind of team we just beat tonight\u2014nothing but respect for Nate and this team. They were in the Final Four for a reason last year, and they\u2019re certainly one of the best teams in college basketball. Maybe it\u2019s time to talk about Ole Miss. I think most of the national scene didn\u2019t give Ole Miss much of a chance tonight. Our players believed that we could be successful in this game, and that\u2019s what we did. \u2014Head coach Chris Beard<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Build the Culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s only the beginning in the Tuohy Center, and you can help keep the program atop the SEC standings. Donate $74+ to the Grove Collective<\/a> and receive a digitally signed print from Malik Dia and Chris Beard to commemorate Ole Miss’ win over #4 ranked Alabama. Donations $74+ will also be entered to win a signed basketball from the team and Chris Beard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As conference play gets underway, the contenders are being separated from the pretenders, and in this week\u2019s upset<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":146440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[283,24672,4389,5,7067,4,655],"class_list":["post-146439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-athletics","tag-alabama","tag-chris-beard","tag-crimson-tide","tag-mississippi","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-university-of-mississippi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OMBasketball.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146439"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146442,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146439\/revisions\/146442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}