Tennessee basketball handed Ole Miss its fourth straight loss Tuesday night, knocking off the Rebels 84-66 behind a massive second half from Nate Ament. The real entertainment came with six minutes to play when Rebels coach Chris Beard earned a double technicals and an ejection.
Following the game, Beard discussed the ejection, Tennessee’s second half offensive explosion and more. Here’s everything Beard said.
More From RTI: Everything Tennessee HC Rick Barnes Said Following Win Over Ole Miss
On what led to his ejection in the second half after receiving two technical fouls
“Yeah, I’ll give you a couple things. You have a Hall of Fame coach here, first ballot, one of the best that’s ever done it. And I think if you look back at different spots in his career, he had to fight for his program. And so I kind of think that’s where we are with Ole Miss right now. I mean, the free-throw differential in this game and the foul differential in this game, just frustrating from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint. It’s never personal. These are the best officials in college basketball. I can say things like that because I’ve been at all different levels. I know what average officials look like, I know what poor officials look like. These are the best. But on tonight’s game, the free-throw differential, the fouls called differential, at some point as a coach you have to fight for your players. That’s exactly what happened tonight.”
On what changed defensively for Ole Miss from the first half to the second half
“Yeah, I think the first half was a game that we’ve had many times with Coach Barnes. It was physical. The baskets were hard to get. Both teams were playing good defense.From our point of view, we just felt like we left some offense on the table in the first half. Really probably should’ve had the lead at halftime. But I thought our effort, for the most part, in the first twenty minutes of the game was one of our better halves this season.”
On what Tennessee’s Nate Ament did in the second half to get going
“Yeah, a couple things on him. He’s obviously a future NBA player. I think he’s, gotten better from November to December, January to February. That’s not always easy to do when you’re playing with the physicality in this league and the competition. And now he’s fortunate in game plans as well. He’s definitely improving, which I think is a credit to their coaching staff and the guys that play with him. Dynamic player. He basically has an unblockable shot that Coach Barnes has taught many guys — Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge. He’s taught a lot of guys that shot over the years, so that’s a problem. But I think the young guy plays with a lot of demeanor and poise. He’s an all-conference player in our league. I’m not talking about the all-freshman team. He’s one of the best players in our league. Tonight, Tennessee’s best two players (Ament and Ja’Kobi Gillespie) produced in a big way. We didn’t get those contributions from guys that we have to have those type of games from. So all credit goes to Tennessee tonight. I thought they played a good game especially in the second half.”
On if ‘fighting’ for the Ole Miss program is something that has been building game over game or was specific to tonight
“What I will tell you is wherever coach Barnes was at — Clemson, is that right? Do your homework tonight. All that stuff is on YouTube. I think all we ask for is a consistent whistle. If you are going to call a post defense foul on that end, call a post defense foul on the other end. It wasn’t the difference in the overall final score of the game. But at some point you’ve got to fight for your players. That was the objective tonight in that moment. The story is Tennessee played really well tonight. Well-coached. The best two players showed up in a big-time way on a night where I guess you guys were a little undermanned tonight with a couple key players that didn’t get to play.”
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