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Chris Beard, Eric Musselman express mutual respect during SEC Media Day
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Chris Beard is set to enter his first season in the SEC as the new men’s basketball head coach for Ole Miss. Beard will now share a conference with 1 of his most respected peers.
During SEC Media Day, Beard was asked about his relationship with Arkansas’ Eric Musselman. The 2 had some competitive clashes while Musselman was at Nevada and Beard led Texas Tech.
“Yeah, I know Muss. I would say we’re friends. We talked about basketball a lot. I think we played each other three times when he was in Nevada, we were Texas Tech. We had a non-conference game, great game,” Beard said. “We played in the NCAA Tournament. Another great game. Came down to the buzzer. Then last year we were able to play in a charity exhibition game, which I think was great for both games.”
Beard added that they’ve shared insights over the years and is looking forward to being in the SEC with Musselman.
“He’s a guy we’ve exchanged from basketball ideas from time to time. I have a lot of respect for him on the outside looking in. We don’t vacation together. We don’t exchange Christmas gifts, but I think there’s a lot of respect on both ends,” Beard said. “I got a lot of respect for their program, how they recruit, coach, player development. I wish him the best of luck this season.”
Meanwhile, Musselman joked about the officiating during 1 of his losses against Beard before effusively praising him.
“We didn’t get a very good whistle at Tech,” Musselman said with a chuckle.
“Coach Beard is one of the best coaches in college basketball. Everywhere he goes, he wins,” he added. “His teams play with great toughness. You better be able to get loose balls against his teams, and you have to figure out a way to score.”
Musselman raves that Beard always extracts the maximum effort and potential out of his roster. That should make for an interesting matchup when Arkansas travels to Ole Miss on Jan. 24.
“Great, great defensive coach,” Musselman said. “Every team that we faced, I mean, I don’t know how many times, maybe three times now in NCAA tournament, a game at Tech, in Lubbock, when I was at Nevada, then an exhibition game last year, schematically he’s really hard to prepare for. He’s a guy that gets his guys to play with maximum effort.”
