NASHVILLE — A few days to ruminate and a change of venue didn’t alter the outcome for Ole Miss basketball against Texas A&M.

A 26-point loss to the Aggies on Saturday brought the Rebels’ season to its lowest point. On Thursday, the Aggies brought Ole Miss’ first season under coach Chris Beard to the finish line, eliminating them from the 2024 SEC Tournament by handing the Rebels an 80-71 defeat at Bridgestone Arena.

Unless Ole Miss receives an NIT invitation and elects to play, the Rebels will end their season at 20-12, having injected new energy into the program before a 2-9 finish knocked the Rebels from their perch comfortably inside the NCAA Tournament field.

On one end of the court, the effort by the Rebels was improved from the poor showing against the Aggies (19-13) on Saturday which led Beard to question his team’s pride postgame.

Ole Miss defended well ‒ the Aggies shot just 36.9% from the field. The Rebels were again overmatched on the glass, but not by such a large margin as to decide the game with one column on the box score.

Texas A&M, the best offensive rebounding team in college basketball, snagged 21 offensive boards to Ole Miss’ 9. The Aggies were more efficient than the Rebels at turning those opportunities into buckets, too. Twenty-one of Texas A&M’s points were on second chances.

On a typical night, it would have been enough for the Rebels to win. But Ole Miss' offense slowed to a halt. It shot 41.7% for the game, but the effort in the middle stages of second half was particularly poor.

After Matthew Murrell's free throw cut the Texas A&M lead to one point with 15:43 to play, Ole Miss managed just seven points in the next 8:21.

That allowed Texas A&M to open up a 13-point lead with 4:52 to play that not even a subsequent 10-0 Ole Miss run could erase.

The Rebels' 3-point offense was lacking, too. The Rebels went 9-for-31 from beyond the arc.

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Murrell, Ole Miss' leading scorer, didn't register his first point until there was 2:47 remaining in the first half.

That bucket, a 3-pointer, was Murrell's only of the first half.

Normally, such an outcome would mean disaster for Ole Miss. But the trio of Jaemyn Brakefield, Allen Flanigan and Jaylen Murray did enough early to allow the Rebels to hang around heading into the locker room at halftime.

Each member of that group contributed eight first-half points. Ole Miss trailed 35-31 at the break.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss basketball, Chris Beard ousted from SEC Tournament by Texas A&M