Ole Miss basketball's Chris Beard broke down the pitfalls in the Rebels' 81-71 loss to Mississippi State.

Claudell Harris Jr. moved to the bench for Riley Kugel in Jans’ first starting lineup change since Dec. 14. Harris scored all 10 of his points in the first half as Mississippi State erased an early eight-point deficit. He hit a 3-pointer eight seconds before halftime that gave MSU a 40-33 lead.

ESPN predicted before Saturday’s slate of college basketball games 14 of the SEC’s 16 teams would make the NCAA Tournament. No. 19 Ole Miss was included as a 5-seed. Actually, the Rebels’ resume was/is so strong a win or loss against rival Mississippi State wasn’t go to move the needle much,

The Ole Miss Rebels are set to square off against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on the hardwood this weekend.

"This is the SEC," Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. "A two-game winning streak, it's free breakfast burritos in the morning. People want to throw you a parade. A two-game losing streak and you feel like the sun won't come up tomorrow."