In their final home game of the regular season, the Ole Miss Rebels were able to upset the Tennessee Volunteers on Wednesday. It was a game that head coach Chris Beard knew was always going to be a challenge, especially with the amount of respect he has for the Volunteers as a team.
After the game, Beard praised how his team played tough, especially rebounding the basketball. In doing so, he highlighted just how good Tennessee has been this season, even suggesting that the Volunteers could be the best team in all of college basketball.
I think the basketball game when Tennessee shoots like that and has balanced three-point shooting,” Beard said. “I think they’ll be a tough out in the six-game [NCAA] tournament. How did we overcome that? We overcome it by rebounding. We out-rebounded a quality opponent. It’s kind of been a challenge for us all year. I’ve never said it’s a weakness ‘cause I still think it can turn into a strength. Our journey started this season with a closed-door scrimmage against the best rebounding team in college basketball. We held our own that Saturday afternoon in Baton Rouge. We always thought it would kind of be a weapon for us, but it hasn’t played out that way.”
