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Chest Day: LSU transfer, rim-rattler, fisherman, future Ole Miss star (?)

Ben Garrettby: Ben Garrett07/12/25SpiritBen
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Ole Miss forward Corey Chest (Photo credit: Ole Miss Basketball/Instagram)

LSU forward Corey Chest was the first transfer Ole Miss basketball pulled from the portal this spring. 

Chest redshirted his first season as a Tiger but played a big role in 2024-25. He appeared in 26 games, including 19 starts, and averaged 6.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. 

Chest shot 60.7 percent from the field. He chose Ole Miss over Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Georgia and others.

“I decided to come to Ole Miss because of my relationship with the coaching staff and the culture here,” Chest said, in an introductory video from Ole Miss athletics. “One word to describe my game is explosive. My basketball idol is Kevin Durant. One thing most people don’t know about me is I love to fish. If I could describe myself in one word, it’d be dawg.”

The 6-foot-8 Chest is a glass-cleaner and rim protector. He brings to the Ole Miss front court what it most lacked last season. The Rebels won 24 games and matched the program’s greatest-ever single-season accomplishment by reaching the Sweet 16.

Chest, a former 4-star recruit, was one of seven transfers signed by the Rebels.

They also added bigs James Scott (Louisville) and Augusto Cassia (Butler), as well as Top 50 recruits and 4-stars Tylis Jordan and Niko Bundalo. Bundalo was the nation’s No. 30 overall prospect in the 2025 class.

“Two different ways to look at Corey,” third-year Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said. “You look at him as an SEC transfer that had some real moments in the league as a young player, which is really hard to do. Or you can look at the other side of the coin, where he’s still a young player himself. Just a sophomore in the SEC, so there’s a role for him. There’s some urgency for him to contribute on a daily basis and be a big part of our team this year on the court. But we’re also spending a lot of time and effort on player development and developing his game both physically and mentally. We’ll see where he ends up. 

“It’s always a good thing to have young talent in your program that can also contribute physically while they’re still trying to kind of grow into being a player. Athletic guy. He’s got some competitiveness to him. He’s a real player-development guy. Got to work on his skill level, and he embraces that. I don’t want to speak for him, but one of the decisions, I think, for him to come here was kind of the vision we laid out for him not only day one or season one but also the future. 

“He’s an athletic guy. He’s a great teammate. All the guys, myself included, enjoy being around him. His athleticism is a game-changer. He can do some things other guys can’t do. It’s really two sides of the coin, you know? What can he do to help us today, and then where could this guy be in the future if he works on his game?”

The included practice photos were provided by Ole Miss Athletics.

Kezza Giffa and Augusto Cassia

Zach Day

Augusto Cassia

AJ Storr

Max Smith

Tylis Jordan

Niko Bundalo

Corey Chest

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