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A critical and ‘exciting’ week awaits coach Yo and Ole Miss women’s basketball

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•02/13/24•

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Ole Miss women's basketball has two critical games this week

The Ole Miss women’s basketball Rebels, like their men’s basketball counterparts, got a weekend off at the absolute perfect time. 

The Rebels have lost two in a row, including a 72-53 clunker at home to Texas A&M on Thursday. Head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin didn’t hold back in expressing her disappointment during her postgame press conference following the uninspiring performance.

“Just incredibly disappointed in my team,” McPhee-McCuin said. “Incredibly disappointed. No fight, no effort, no maturity. I don’t even know who they were tonight, and I want to apologize to every fan that came out to support us. That’s not Ole Miss women’s basketball. Just really disappointed.”

McPhee-McCuin had calmed down a bit by her weekly press conference on Tuesday. 

Sure, the Rebels (16-7, 6-4 SEC) are somewhat reeling, but South Carolina is the best team in the country and Texas A&M is every bit the NCAA Tournament contender as Ole Miss. 

Injuries have taken their toll, too. Freshman guard Marija Avlijas is back, but McPhee-McCuin said Avlijas is playing through a foot injury. Decorated transfer guard KK Deans is out for the season, while another, Kennedy Todd-Williams, is banged up, too.

“We’re right in the thick of things in SEC play,” McPhee-McCuin said. “Ten games so far and six remaining. Two very vital and important games coming up. I feel like I say that every week. I don’t know if there’s one game in the SEC that’s not important. If you look at standings, we’re all kind of jumbled up with each other except for South Carolina. 

“I think it’ll come down to the wire. Florida first on the road, then obviously home versus Mississippi State on Sunday. We’ll be inviting alumni back, and also it will be our ‘Play4Kay’ game, where we’ll honor people that have fought and beat breast cancer.

“So, it should be a full week.” 

Yolett McPhee-McCuin roams the sideline of an Ole Miss women’s basketball game

Ole Miss is currently fifth in the SEC.

The Rebels take on Florida (13-9, 4-6) in Gainesville on Thursday at 5 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. The in-state rival Bulldogs (20-6, 7-4) roll into Oxford Sunday at 3 p.m. CT. That game will also be on SEC Network+. 

ESPN, for now, is projecting Ole Miss as an 8-seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels, last season, won an NCAA Tournament game, and later reached the Sweet Sixteen, for the first time in 16 years. Their upset of Stanford was just the eighth time ever a No. 1 seed lost in the first or second round in tournament history.

“An exciting week, and an opportunity for us to kind of get back rolling,” McPhee-McCuin said. “Marija’s back but dealing with a foot injury. She was gone, and then you lose KK and Kennedy Todd-Williams. That’s kind of difficult to overcome, but still wasn’t excited about the way we responded. 

“But at the end of the day, I do understand what the situation was. So, this week allowed us to reset.”

McPhee-McCuin was joined at The Pavilion on Tuesday by Rebels Madison Scott and Rita Igbokwe.

Here’s everything they had to say.

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