**OXFORD —** Malik Dia's stated goal is to play in the NBA.
Ole Miss' stated goal for the approaching season is to advance further than the Sweet 16 bid it earned this past March.
If the Rebels are to get through the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament and to the Final Four, Dia will almost certainly have to play a massive role.
"I think I'm kind of commented out," Ole Miss coach Chris Beard. "It's time for his lights to come on. I respect Dia's heart. I respect his intelligence. I respect the way he goes about it, the way he lives his life, but it's a bottom-line deal."
Dia, a 6-foo-9, 250-pounder, averaged 10.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game for Ole Miss last season, at times dominating and at times disappearing. He shot 46.7 percent from the floor and 34.5 percent from the 3-point line in his first season at Ole Miss after transferring from Belmont.
"He set his goals," Beard said. "I didn't set them for him. When you're a grown man and you're playing your fourth or fifth year in college basketball and when you tell your coach or your teammates you want to play in the NBA, OK. Do you know how hard it is to do that?
"So when you say that, OK, do you really mean it? And when you really mean it, OK, what are you going to do to back it up? And Dia does a lot of the things that are involved in backing that up but there's this thing called production and there's this thing called consistency."
Beard didn't mince words Thursday. He stated the obvious truth — 5.8 rebounds per game won't impress NBA scouts or be enough to push Ole Miss through multiple NCAA Tournament games.
"If Malik Dia would've averaged 10 rebounds, would he even be in college anymore?" Beard said. "I don't know. What's the difference between six and 10? It's two rebounds in the first half and two rebounds in the second half. On one end, that's how kind of close he is. On the other end, it's worlds away. It gets down to individual possessions, moments, where he has to be disciplined and where he's gotta do what he says he's gonna do."
In the Southeastern Conference Tournament win over an Arkansas team that made it to the Sweet 16, Dia had 19 points and eight rebounds. He added 10 points and seven boards a day later in a narrow loss to eventual Final Four participant Auburn. Dia had 18 points and eight rebounds in a second-round NCAA Tournament win over Iowa State in Milwaukee. He had 11 points and four boards in the Sweet 16 loss to Michigan State in Atlanta.
Ole Miss Rebels forward Malik Dia (0) drives against Michigan State Spartans center Carson Cooper (15) in the second half of a South Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at State Farm Arena.
There's a trend there. Everyone inside the program knows it.
"It's production time," Beard said. "It's time to do it possession after possession. That's where he is. Do I love Dia? Yes. Do I believe in Dia? Yes. Do I enjoy coaching him? Yes. But is he a finished product? No. He's got to find just another level of discipline and I think if he does that, he could be a special player."
Those words from his coach won't be surprising to Dia.
"He knows it's the path to my future," Dia said.
Dia has been challenged all summer, pushed to reach his potential for a team that has the pieces to make noise in March. Dia said he's gotten his body into excellent condition. He's focused on rebounding every day and focused on not having "drop-off days."
Dia acknowledged last season he had games last season where he had games where he dominated the glass and games where he wasn't a factor.
"I think it's about sustaining that consistent effort and then it's just honestly a want-to thing," Dia said. "I think the guys that want to get the rebounds will end up getting it. I have had that emphasis. I think I started off really well and then in the summer it kind of dropped and I was floating around, not thinking about it as much."
That can't happen this season if the Rebels are going to win and if Dia is going to put on an NBA uniform. He knows it.
"The biggest thing for this year is building that consistency and being great every single game," Dia said.
Ole Miss opens the season Nov. 4 against an opponent that hasn't been named yet.