BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
NEW YORK–The beginning of the season has been a struggle for Ole Miss and head coach Chris Beard. The team is 5-4 on the season after suffering a loss to No. 23 St. John’s on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. But the program’s struggles did not keep Beard from giving high praise to Rick Pitino and his program after the game.
“If I had a son, he would play for coach [Rick] Pitino,” Beard said after Ole Miss’ 63-58 loss to St. John’s.
Beard’s praise for the Johnnies continued, calling the team that held them to just 2-16 from long distance one of the best teams in the country.
“I would give all that credit to St. John’s defense, that’s the best defense we’ve played this year,” he said. “But our guys played hard tonight, that’s something we can build on at Ole Miss, I got a lot of respect for coach at St. John’s I feel like we just played one of the best teams in the country.”
Beard had previously called out his own players for a lack of effort after a loss to Miami. But he was much more encouraged by the effort his program showed in the World’s Most Famous Arena on Saturday.
“I thought defensively tonight we did a lot of stuff, played with a lot of courage,” he said post-game. “Free throw differential hurt us, offensive rebounds we gave up hurt us, but other than that I thought we fought.”
Ole Miss has lost its last four games after beginning the season 5-0.
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