GameDay Primer: Yo’s challenge on the table, Ole Miss welcomes always-tough Tennessee

Ole Miss women’s basketball has certainly dealt with more than its fair share of adversity this season. 

And yet the Rebels still find themselves 14-5 (4-2 SEC) overall and winners of two in a row.

They’ve stacked wins despite some notable injuries/extended player absences and uneven performances from a few stars. They’re also holding firm as a safe projection for the NCAA Tournament. 

ESPN has the Rebels as an eight-seed in its latest round of bracketology.

“Defense, that’s something we wear on our shirts. That’s our reputation,” Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said after her team’s identity crisis earlier this month. 

“That’s what people know us for. We’ve gone back to that.”

Ole Miss last season became just the fifth eight-seed in tournament history to reach the regional semifinal. 

The Rebels memorably took down No. 1 seed Stanford in the second round. They picked up their 25th win in the process and punched their ticket to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2007. 

Ole Miss, prior to last season, had won at least 25 games in a single season only five times. As a result, McPhee-McCuin had her contract extended in the off-season.

All good then, right? Not so much, apparently.

All anyone can seem to talk about these days is McPhee-McCuin playing The Feud with local media following the Rebels’ weakly-attended win over Florida on Thursday. Ole Miss was back home for the first time in two weeks and scored its most points in a first half this season to jump all over and outlast the Gators, 81-70. 

Senior guard Marquesha Davis had a game-high 23 points on a career-best 10 field goals. It was her fifth game in a row scoring double-digit points. North Carolina transfer Kennedy Todd-Williams chipped in a team-high nine rebounds, as well as 11 points, to extend her recent hot streak.

However, not enough butts were in seats to see if for McPhee-McCuin’s liking.

“What I’m trying to get the Oxford community to do is to catch up, because the rest of the world has caught up to the fact women’s sports is legit and it’s real,” McPhee-McCuin said. “I’m not going to allow people to make it seem like what we do doesn’t matter. I’m not going to allow people to make it seem like our women are less than. Because that is a false narrative out there and the Oxford community needs to catch up to that and that’s the truth.”

Ole Miss, on the men’s side, is riding the Pavilion’s best-ever win streak, supported by a student section that had its biggest crowd ever on Wednesday. The Rebels rebounded from a rough week on the road with a rout of SEC West rival Arkansas.

But Club Red was all but a ghost town a day later and despite Yo’s Rebels roughing up a league foe of their own in Florida. They were up 20 at halftime.

Yo seemed to take the most issue with a recent report on her program’s $8-million-plus loss last fiscal year.

“Women’s sports is a legitimate entity, and maybe because Oxford right now doesn’t think so, the rest of the world has caught on,” McPhee-McCuin said. “The Oxford community needs to catch on. The Ole Miss campus community needs to catch on.”

Ole Miss has another opportunity Sunday against the historic Lady Volunteers of Tennessee. 

Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. CT and will be nationally televised on ESPN. 

Ole Miss earlier this season set an attendance record with over 9,000 fans for the LSU game. The last time the Pavilion was close to that full for a women’s game was last season against No. 1 South Carolina. Ole Miss lost both games.

“We’re behind. It’s disappointing and it’s not going to stop what we do,” McPhee-McCuin said.

SERIES NOTES

Ole Miss and Tennessee first starting playing in 1977. The Volunteers are 52-8 in the all-time series. The Rebels took down Tennessee, 67-62, at home in 2017. However, the Volunteers lead Ole Miss 22-4 in games played in Oxford.

REBEL TIP-INS

Ole Miss is on pace for 122 blocks this season, which would break the program record (174) set a year ago. … The Rebels have held eight of their 19 opponents under 50 points this season. … Ole Miss is No. 4 in the nation in blocks per game (6.6). The Rebels are No. 34 in points per game allowed (56.0). … Ole Miss shot over 50 percent from the field in each of its last two SEC games. The Rebels sank 51.7 percent of their attempts against Georgia and 50.8 percent against the Gators. … Todd-Williams has scored double-digit points in three of six SEC games.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE

ESPN has the Volunteers as an 11-seed in its most recent NCAA Tournament field. They’re one of three SEC teams the Rebels have not beaten in the McPhee-McCuin era. 

Tennessee is the winningest program in women’s basketball history. The Volunteers head into Sunday’s showdown with an overall record of 12-6. They’ve won five of their six conference games. 

Strong rebounding has always remained a key component of the Lady Vols’ game. Tennessee is No. 12 nationally in average rebounds (44.2 per game).

THE ROAD TO 100 

McPhee-McCuin is seven wins away (93) from becoming just the second coach in Ole Miss women’s basketball history to reach 100 in their career. McPhee-McCuin would join the legendary Van Chancellor, who compiled a mind-boggling 439 over an historic tenure in Oxford.