Chris Beard defends addition of AJ Storr: ‘I know his story a lot more than the next guy’

Ole Miss will be AJ Storr‘s fourth school in four years. In turn, some Rebels fans have been skeptical about the addition this offseason. On Tuesday, Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard put any concerns surrounding Storr to rest.

“I just believe in AJ. I know his story a lot more than the next guy,” Beard said. “Spent a lot of time getting to know him and his family, and understand his path. I think when you look at it on paper, it’s easy to kind of misunderstand that.”

Storr began his career at St. John’s, where he burst onto the scene, averaging 8.8 points per game on 40.4% shooting from beyond the arc. For his efforts, he was named an All-Big East Freshman.

However, after the season, St. John’s fired head coach Mike Anderson and Storr subsequently entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. From there, Storr joined Wisconsin.

He started in all 36 games for the Badgers in the 2023-24 season, averaging a career-high 16.1 points per game and reeling in All-Big Ten Second-Team honors. Once again, Storr entered the portal after the season, hoping to display talents on one of the brightest stages in college basketball.

In his lone campaign at Kansas, AJ Storr’s plans went awry. He averaged just 6.1 points per game and never found a rhythm as a Jayhawk. Despite Storr’s recent struggles, Beard is confident the senior guard will fit in well on the Rebels’ roster.

“Every single person we talked to, from high school coaches to summer coaches to his college coaches, it’s just like a broken record: this isn’t a good kid, this is a great kid,” Beard said. “This is an outstanding young man.

“This a guy that his teammates love to play with, that coaching staffs love coaching. So, he’s just a talented guy. I think he’s got a huge chip on his shoulder right now, which has always been something that I kind of strive for, trying to find motivated people, whether it be coaches on our staff, people in our organization, or certainly the players.

“AJ is not a big talker. He lets his game speak for itself. But I’m very confident that he’s going to write his story this year to kind of clear up any kind of confusion about him that might be out there, which, in my opinion, is totally inaccurate. He’s a really good player. He’s proven it over many years.”