Ole Miss stunned the whole of Vegas with its biggest upset win this season on Day 1 of the SEC Tournament.
Texas getting out of the SEC Tournament was considered a long shot, but the Rebels made it happen in the 76-66 win, where they didn't allow the Longhorns to have the lead even once throughout the 90 minutes. They had the biggest chip on their shoulder and nothing to lose, and still turned out to be the type of beast the Longhorns weren't prepared for.
Chris Beard's vow following Day 1 SEC Tournament win
However, coming off a depressing skid like no other, Chris Beard still seemed reserved on not getting the Rebel Nation's hopes up too high before facing Georgia.
There was no doubt about the win being a massive milestone for the Rebs, but Beard still called it "survival."
"Everyone eventually ends up in the situation we’re in now — survive and advance. For a lot of teams it’ll be next week in the NCAA Tournament, but for us it’s right now," Beard said in his post-game presser.
Not hiding behind coach-speak, Beard issued a singular affirmation: they did not come to Nashville to win just one game.
"We didn’t come to Nashville to win just one game. We came to win one game at a time. There’s still belief in our locker room that we can make a run here."
Plain and simple. Anything more than that would definitely come off as coach-speak given their 10-game skid this season. But the tourney could be where the Rebels get a semblance of redemption from their terrible regular season.
They face the Georgia Bulldogs next, a program that has been on a roll that is leaving a mark on their program history.
A win against them would be just as big a pipedream as it was surviving in the SEC Tournament at all, but that's why they play the games.