Coach Yo adds size to Ole Miss with latest portal signing of Central Michigan's Desrae Kyle
Chris Beard is working on assembling a new roster for the Ole Miss men’s basketball team but Yolett McPhee-McCuin is nearly done and her latest addition helps fill a major need under the basket.
On Tuesday it was announced by the Ole Miss women’s basketball program that Central Michigan transfer Desrae Kyle was the newest signee by Coach Yo, who has done her best Lane Kiffin impression this transfer window.
The 6-foot-5 center is a welcomed addition, filling a hole that Ole Miss lacked this season. There was not someone who could handle some of the other bigs of the Southeastern Conference. UCLA’s Lauren Betts in the Sweet 16 game is another example.
“Desrae’s addition will be an important piece to this puzzle,” McCuin said in a statement released on Tuesday. “Her size, length and personality are incredible. There are truly NoCeilings to her potential and I am excited and grateful that she is part of our family here at Ole Miss.”
Kyle did not play this past season at Central Michigan, opting to redshirt her sophomore season. She played in 13 games during his freshman season (2023-24), averaging 3.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 52.8% from the field.
Career highs are seven points scored in a game against Cleveland State and seven rebounds in a game against Buffalo.
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McCuin has brought eight transfers to Ole Miss this window, creating No. 2 transfer class in the country according to On3.
Two of theme are in-state defectors from Mississippi State in Debresha Powe and Denim DeShields with the latter doing so on Monday. Powe committed last week.
A crown jewel of this class for McCuin and the Rebels is Ohio State transfer Cotie McMahon. The shooting guard averaged over 16 points and nearly five rebounds this past season with the Buckeyes.
Rounding out the transfer class so far is Virginia’s Latasha Lattimore, Central Florida’s Kaitlin Peterson, Wichita State’s Jayla Murray and Georgia Tech’s Tianna Thompson. Peterson was 13th in the nation in scoring with 21.4 points per game this past season.
Ole Miss is coming off its second Sweet 16 appearance in the last three seasons but McCuin wants to get further in 2026 and the recruiting efforts are prime examples of that desire.
Rising sophomore Sira Thienou returns as the Rebels leading scorer for next season after four of the top five scorers are gone. Thienou averaged 10.5 points per game in her first year of SEC play and pulled down 4.7 rebounds a game.
