Ole Miss HC Chris Beard makes strong statement about Tennessee Basketball and Vols fans after loss to UT
The Tennessee Vols kicked off SEC play on Saturday in Knoxville with a dominant 90-64 win over a ranked Ole Miss Rebels squad. Tennessee, which entered the game as the No. 5 team in the nation, outscored No. 22 Ole Miss by 17 points in the second half to secure the blowout win. The Vols […]
The Tennessee Vols kicked off SEC play on Saturday in Knoxville with a dominant 90-64 win over a ranked Ole Miss Rebels squad.
Tennessee, which entered the game as the No. 5 team in the nation, outscored No. 22 Ole Miss by 17 points in the second half to secure the blowout win.
The Vols were led by Jonas Aidoo, who had a monster game with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
After the game, Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard, who is in his first season with the Rebels, called the Vols a Final Four team.
Beard also praised the incredible atmosphere at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday night.
"This is my first SEC game and I was very impressed by the crowd," said Beard after the game. "This is a great, great basketball venue. Super impressed with everything about this place."
“So, obviously, for us, the basketball game, I'll start by saying this, Tennessee's really good," added Beard. "I don’t know if Coach (Rick) Barnes would agree with this, but I think they're a Final Four contender. They have experience, size, great point-guard play. They have an identity — it's their defense and rebounding. And offensively, they just have a lot of weapons. And they can play a lot of different ways. And so really, really impressed with them. You're literally looking at a team a basket away from beating Kansas and Purdue. And we're sitting here today and they're probably the No. 1 team in the country. Super impressed with Tennessee."
It feels like the Vols are starting to find their groove at just the right time. Those three consecutive losses (to really good teams) in late November were painful for Tennessee fans, but they undoubtedly made the Vols a better team moving forward.
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