OXFORD — There are worse calling cards for a basketball team to have than defense.

It’s been Chris Beard’s calling card throughout his career. The second-year Ole Miss coach has always had teams — from Little Rock to Texas Tech to Texas and beyond — that swarmed defensively, taking away the middle of the court and forcing opposing teams to take uncomfortable shots late in the shot clock.

That defense can overcome sloppy offense and mediocre shooting, and that was certainly the case Saturday night. The 22nd-ranked Rebels had an uncharacteristic night in terms of ball protection and struggled to knock shots down consistently, but their defense suffocated LSU and helped Ole Miss to a 77-65 win over the Tigers in front of an announced crowd of 9,406 at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion.

“Good team win,” Beard said. “I thought our defense was good. LSU is a high field-goal percentage team. We played some pretty good half-court defense tonight. Most of our troubles were in the full-court, but give LSU credit. They were explosive on the break. We were concerned about their length and shot-blocking ability but to get through this game and only have a couple of shots blocked at the rim shows that our guys were executing the game plan.”

With the win, Ole Miss improved to 14-2 overall and 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference. It’s the Rebels’ first 3-0 start in league play since 2018-19. That team, then directed by first-year coach Kermit Davis, made the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels haven’t been back since, something Beard and Co. are hoping changes in March.

LSU fell to 11-5 overall and 0-3 in the SEC.

Five Rebels scored in double-figures Saturday, led by Malik Dia’s 19 points and seven rebounds. Jaemyn Brakefield came off the bench to score 16 points and grab five rebounds. Despite shooting just 1-for-7 from the 3-point line, Sean Pedulla added 11 points. Dre Davis and Jaylen Murray chipped in 10 points each.

“It’s Ole Miss basketball. It’s by design,” Beard said. “I don’t think you can win six games in three weekends with one dominant leading scorer. You have to have scoring different ways. If we can play great defense, protect the ball and have multiple guys in double-digit scoring, we’ve proven that we can be more than competitive over the years.”

Cam Carter led LSU with 16 points. Daimion Collins scored 14 for the Tigers and Jordan Sears added 10.

Ole Miss blew the game open in the opening minutes of the second half, going on a 20-6 run. The Rebels’ defense discombobulated the Tigers, and then shots started falling on the offensive end. Once the deep ball started to fall with consistency, the Rebels were able to get downhill on offense, getting good looks at the rim and trips to the free throw line.

In short, defense led to offense, and if this Ole Miss team is going to achieve its postseason goals, that’s likely the formula it will have to master over the course of the next two months.

“At halftime, we just had some good conversations,” Dia said. “In the second half, we had a real emphasis on just getting it going and that’s what we did.”

“If our transition defense had been a little bit tighter, it would’ve been one of our better defensive performances,” Beard said. “I believe to win in March, your offense has to have diversity. It has to have variety. You can’t just score in one way. It’s something we talked about back in the summer. If we’re going to get to that point per game goal, we have to score off defense. We have to get to the free throw line. We have to score in transition. We have to score with half-court execution. We have to get some points off of offensive rebounds and on second chances, but tonight, we made the opponent turn the ball over more than we did and that was an important part of the game.”

Ole Miss forced 17 turnovers and turned that into 23 points. Conversely, the Rebels committed 13 turnovers but LSU only made the Rebels pay to the tune of 11 points.

“I think it’s who they are,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said. “They’re top-five in the country in forcing turnovers. They have a unique style on that end of the floor that Coach Beard has used for years with great success. I think they have experience and toughness — I think they’re the third-oldest team in the country — and they’ve done a great job of blending all that talent together and be a really disruptive defensive team.”

Ole Miss led by two, 28-26, at halftime. The Rebels trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, thanks primarily to turnovers. Ole Miss had nine in the opening 20 minutes, though the Rebels forced 10 and turned those into 12 points. Ole Miss held LSU to just 16.7 percent (3-for-18) from the 3-point line in the first half.

The Rebels shot 49 percent from the floor and 36 percent from the 3-point line. They were 14-for-19 from the free throw line. LSU, meanwhile, shot 41 percent from the floor, 23 percent from deep and got to the free throw line just 10 times, though the Tigers were 10-for-10 from the stripe.

LSU won the rebounding battle narrowly, 33-32, though they turned 11 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points, allowing them to stay in the game in the first half. Ole Miss won points in the paint, 34-28.

Ole Miss returns to action Tuesday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., against No. 5 Alabama. Tipoff at Coleman Coliseum is set for 6 p.m. It’s the first of a two-game road trip that includes a Jan. 18 date at Mississippi State. The Rebels return home Jan. 22 versus Texas A&M.

Brown-Jones still out: Ole Miss forward Mikael Brown-Jones missed his second consecutive game Saturday. He didn’t play in Wednesday’s win at Arkansas due to an undisclosed illness. Brown-Jones was on the Rebels’ bench Saturday wearing a long sleeve white t-shirt and gray sweatpants. Beard said postgame Brown-Jones is "out" right now, adding that he's in concussion protocol.

"Mikeal is as tough as any kid I've ever coached," Beard said. "He's progressing in the right direction and we're hoping he can step up sooner rather than later."

Murrell gives first-half surge: Matthew Murrell finished with nine points Saturday, but his back-to-back 3s late in the first half erased a six-point LSU lead and gave the Rebels momentum headed into intermission.

The little things: Freshman guard Eduardo Klafke didn’t score in seven minutes Saturday. He missed two free throws but he contributed elsewhere, getting two rebounds, two assists and two steals and finishing with a plus/minus of +8.