Chris Beard explains ejection vs. Tennessee: 'You have to fight for your players'

Ole Miss coach Chris Beard was ejected from a game against Tennessee after confronting a pair of officials over what he deemed missed foul calls against his team. He was ushered off the floor.

Ultimately, the Rebels fell to the Volunteers 84-66, unable to generate any momentum in the second half. Beard’s ploy to get his team fired up didn’t really work.

After the game, Chris Beard addressed the ejection. He said it was two-fold in nature.

“I’ll give you a couple things,” Beard began. “You have a Hall of Fame coach here, (Rick Barnes), first ballot, one of the best that’s ever done it. And I think if you look back at different spots in his career, he had to fight for his program. And so I kind of think that’s where we are with Ole Miss right now.”

Beard’s move was clearly a gambit. He had even talked with the ESPN2 crew calling the game about it beforehand — more on that in a bit.

But, really, Chris Beard was focused on two areas of the game in terms of officiating that he thought were not up to snuff. He explained:

“I mean, the free-throw differential in this game and the foul differential in this game, just frustrating from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint,” he said. “It’s never personal. These are the best officials in college basketball. I can say things like that because I’ve been at all different levels. I know what average officials look like, I know what poor officials look like. These are the best.

“But on tonight’s game, the free-throw differential, the fouls called differential, at some point as a coach you have to fight for your players. That’s exactly what happened tonight.”

The ESPN2 broadcast crew calling the game noted that Chris Beard had been visibly frustrated with the amount of contact throughout the game. He reportedly told sideline reporter Alyssa Lang at halftime that he wasn’t long for the game.

“I mean he kind of facetiously was like, basically, ‘If my team doesn’t fight I’m going to leave,’” Lang reported on the air. “Now I think he left to inspire more fight. He did say this to me at halftime, though, and I told you guys that he wasn’t happy with the amount of contact that he felt like his guys were getting. Obviously that continued in the second half.”