Chris Beard says rebounding and three-point shooting were the difference in close win over Temple

The Ole Miss Rebels managed to pull out a 77-76 win over the Temple Owls on Wednesday night. Temple was actually leading 76-75 with 17 seconds left in the contest, but the Rebels managed to drill two clutch free throws with nine seconds left to pull it out. Shortly after the game, Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard spoke with the ESPN+ broadcast crew about the game.

Chris Beard shared his thoughts in the postgame

Allen Flanigan is everything as advertised. Isn’t he? “Yeah, I thought we had some great individual performances tonight, but you always have to have them on the road in college basketball. There’s no doubt that Al put us on his back for several seconds this game in the first half and second half. I think from our standpoint, we’ve got a long ways to go. It’s early in the season. I thought our defensive rebounding and offensive rebounds in the second half kind of separated us a little bit. We made that the objective at halftime to try and outrebound them in the second half. I thought that was the one difference in the game,” Beard noted.

Flanigan drilled two clutch free throws with nine seconds left to give the Rebels the win on Wednesday night. He delivered an impressive performance, stuffing the stat sheet with 26 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists in 31 minutes of work.

Ole Miss came in Wednesday night’s game shooting just 28.6% from beyond the arc. Against Temple, the Rebels torched the nets, connecting on 10 of 18 shots from three-point range (55.6%). How does Beard explain the drastic difference in his team’s shooting from long distance? “Well, I think it’s [so] early in the season. The sample size is small and probably not accurate. I think we’ll end up being a good three-point shooting team. I think it’ll be part of our offensive identity. Starting in the second half down the stretch, Jaylen Murray hit that pullup three on the break. And T.J. Caldwell hit the three point shot right in front of our bench. Those two shots in a lot of ways, were the difference in the game,” Beard said.

The Rebels finished with four players in double figures in the win. Not only did they connect on over 55 percent of their shots from three-point range, but they hit over 50 percent of their shots from the field. It’s virtually impossible for Chris Beard to not be pleased with that shooting performance.