Ole Miss eyes areas of improvement ahead of opener vs. Alcorn State

Ole Miss hopes 2026-27 will be a bounce-back season.

The Rebels, who will begin the season against Alcorn State on Monday night in Oxford, Miss., won at least 20 games in each of coach Chris Beard's first two seasons at the school -- reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2024-25. But the team slipped to 15-20 last season, finishing 4-14 in the Southeastern Conference.

Beard added nine new players to three returning players, including Ilias Kamardine, who averaged 11.3 points a game last season. The newcomers include Corey Stephenson, who averaged a team-best 18.0 points and 6.4 rebounds at FIU and shot nearly 40% from 3-point range.

"I think the 3-point shot will be a weapon for our team," Beard said.

Last season, Ole Miss finished 12th in the SEC in 3-point shooting (33.2%). Another area in which Beard is seeking improvement is rebounding after the Rebels finished 15th (34.3).

Beard recruited with those two areas in mind, but now it's up to the coaches to mold the team into the unit he envisions. Beard tried to accelerate the development of cohesion with the new group by playing a pair of competitive exhibitions.

The Rebels, who were picked 13th in the SEC preseason poll, lost to Alabama 92-84 and defeated UAB 92-78.

"Each team is different," Beard said. "You make decisions each year based on the players you have and what you need to get done."

Beard's first look at how well his team rebounds in a regular-season game will come against a Braves team that had trouble on the boards last season.

Alcorn State, which finished 9-23 overall and 7-11 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in coach Jake Morton's first season in 2025-26, was outrebounded in 15 of its 18 conference games.

"That's a bad recipe for winning basketball games," Morton said. "We've got to do a better job in that area. I think we addressed that issue in recruiting with some more size and some more depth along our front line."

The Braves were picked 10th in the SWAC preseason poll.

--Field Level Media