MILWAUKEE — It’s a bit cliche, but it almost always rings true. A team either overcomes its Achilles heel or it ends up being its fatal flaw.
For Ole Miss, the weakness has always rebounding. For as good as Ole Miss is defensively — and the Rebels are tenacious — they lack height and size. For as good as Ole Miss is at creating turnovers — and the Rebels are nationally elite in that category — it sometimes just lacks the mass and brawn needed in some high-level games.
On Sunday night in Milwaukee, that theorem was tested. Iowa State was bigger than Ole Miss, taller across the board. The Cyclones have a collection of talented, skilled bigs. They play for TJ Otzenberger, so pretty much by default, they’re tough as nails.
Early on, the Cyclones pounded the glass, and if it were a boxing match, the Rebels took a hard shot right to their collective jaw.
Out of the gate, Ole Miss trailed by eight points.
The Rebels didn’t go down. Instead, they answered. Simple as that. As difficult as it was, the Rebels answered.
They answered with tenacity. They swarmed on defense. They crashed the glass with a vengeance. Sure, they still lost more than a few loose balls near the basket, but there was something different.
Ole Miss answered the shot to the jaw with a flurry of body blows. They responded with poise. It was controlled chaos. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, certainly, but the final 14 minutes of the first half and almost all of the second half was Chris Beard basketball — toughness, fierceness, effort, team over self.
The result: A 91-78 Ole Miss win over Iowa State, one that advanced the Rebels to just their second Sweet 16 in program history.
Teams take on a coach’s personality. Again, another cliche that simply rings true. This collection of guys — two holdovers from a previous staff, transfers from Belmont, Virginia Tech, St. Peter’s, Seton Hall and Sam Houston and a freshman from Brazil — combined to morph into Beard’s unrelenting, no-nonsense determination.
"I think, above all, I'm very competitive," Beard said Sunday night. "And I think, above all, I don't try to think of words. I don't really care about people's feelings that I have a relationship with. So with the players, it's kind of a direct teaching. So, yeah, these players have allowed me to do that, just like as a coaching staff we have tried to reach the guys in the best way we can reach them. Some of these guys need that. They need the hard, direct message. Some of these guys need poise and confidence in moments.
"But I would say it's an accurate statement. These guys have allowed our coaching staff to coach them, and I think they have allowed each guy in our program to be the best version of themselves as individuals as well."
Let’s be clear here. As I wrote on Saturday in advance of Sunday’s game, this wasn’t a Cinderella story. This wasn’t David versus Goliath. Ole Miss went 10-8 in the Southeastern Conference. The Rebels beat Arkansas last week in the SEC Tournament in Nashville by three before losing by five to Auburn the next day.
You may have heard; the Razorbacks and the Tigers also advanced to the Sweet 16 this weekend. So did Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and Alabama. It was a brutal league, a 10-week marathon that steeled teams and made them resilient and battle-tested.
Ole Miss had been punched before Sunday. It had learned how to absorb those punches and respond. So on Sunday, that came naturally.
Oh, and if you’ve paid any attention to Beard over the last two years, you know he’s not satisfied with a trip to the Sweet 16. There won’t be a parade Monday or Tuesday in Oxford. There will just be practices, followed by a flight to Atlanta and another four-game tournament — this one featuring the Rebels, Michigan State, Michigan and Auburn.
Count this team out at your own peril. It only gets more difficult from here, of course, but after this weekend in Milwaukee, one thing is certain — this Ole Miss team won’t be intimidated by size. It will just work to overcome it.
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