Everything the Ole Miss women said after all but locking down an NCAA host in SEC Tournament

Ole Miss is on the only program in the SEC to win 10 football games, as well as 10 conference games in both men’s and women’s basketball. 

Chris Beard and Co. have their regular season finale at Florida before tipping off postseason play. But football months ago smoked Duke in the Gator Bowl, while Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s Rebels on Thursday advanced to their fourth consecutive quarterfinals in the SEC Tournament. 

They’re all but a lock to host an NCAA Tournament game in Oxford. Ole Miss will be making their fourth straight trip to the ‘Big Dance.’ The 7-seed Rebels take on 2-seed Texas at 5 p.m. CT on Friday on SEC Network.

Included is everything McPhee-McCuin and players Kennedy Todd-Williams and Madison Scott said following the 85-73 win over in-state rival Mississippi State. The Rebels improved to 20-9 (11-6) on the year. Texas is the nation’s top-ranked team. Ole Miss has won 20 games or more in four straight seasons — a first for the Rebels in the 21st century.

OPENING STATEMENT

McPhee-McCuin: First of all, I just always want to just thank the Southeastern Conference for hosting a great tournament. We love coming to Greenville. My daughter was born in Greenville, South Carolina. There’s a connection for me and usually it’s a little bit warmer, but we’ll take it. 

Really happy about the victory tonight. We knew it would be hard-fought. Not only do both teams want to advance, but it’s a little bit more personal when it’s an in-state rivalry. We wish Mississippi State the best of luck, but for us, we had to take care of business so that we could continue to chase our own destiny.

ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SEC TOURNAMENT 

Scott: It means everything. This is my last go-around, this is our last go-around. We want to go as far as we can (and) as long as we can. This is the time to do it. We’re going to give it our all and push and make the chips fall where they fall.

ON WHAT YO HAS BUILT

Scott: We get better and better and better each and every year. We grow and improve each and every year under this woman, under her vision. There’s no ceilings to what we can do. The opportunity to host in Oxford in front of the Oxford community means everything to us, which is why we gave our all in this game. We wanted that opportunity. We’re just excited to continue to attack, get wins in March and continue to dance.

ON THE CEILING FOR THIS TEAM

Todd-Williams: Every season I’ve been here we’ve been making history. If this is our first time hosting, that’s everything for us as seniors and for coach Yo. It’s March. It’s go-time. No ceilings to what we can do. Credit to coach Yo building this program up. It’s been very special, and I’m glad to be a part of it.

ON DYNAMIC FRESHMAN SIRA THIENOU

Scott: Sira’s amazing. She comes in every day and she’s expected to do things that a lot of freshman aren’t expected to do. Some days are hard. Some days she feels it, you know, more than others. But each and every day she comes out and gives her all for her teammates. She comes out and gives her all because this is her last time getting an opportunity to play with me, Toddy, Tam(eiya Sadler), Starr (Jacobs) and KK (Deans). She is absolutely phenomenal. There’s not even enough words I can say to really describe Sira. I just know that I feel great leaving Ole Miss knowing she’s up next. She works her butt off. I know she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come in this league. 

MORE ON THIENOU

McPhee-McCuin: The reason Sira’s going to be good is because she has five orders sisters in the seniors that have been carrying her along the way. That’s a credit to them.

ON SENIOR LEADERSHIP 

McPhee-McCuin: In this day and time you don’t want to ever be young. Young rosters ain’t going deep in the tournament. Young rosters ain’t hosting, all right? You have to have a level of maturity and experience. I’ve grateful and lucky to have had Madison Scott for five years. That’s not even normal. It’s just not normal anymore. You’ve got people like Kennedy Todd-Williams that leave a blue-blood from North Carolina and say I’m going to come here. UCLA transfers, the whole nine. We’ve definitely developed a reputation at Ole Miss when you come here you get better. Marquisha Davis came, three points a game, went 11 in the draft. It’s what we do. We want to stay old, we want to stay mature. That stops me from growing a full head of gray hairs, ‘cause Siera gives me enough on her own.

ON HOSTING

McPhee-McCuin: If I’m being honest it’s not a goal necessarily that I had. It’s a goal our chief of staff brought up last summer and said, ‘Why don’t we go Oxford-Birmingham-Tampa?’ We ran with it. There was a point in the season I kind of lost that want-to. I remember we had beat Florida. They asked Starr why we’re playing so well. She was like, ‘Because we’re trying to host.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, these girls still are trying to do this.’ I’d kind of already moved on. That made me get back focused. That’s what coaching is — when young people have a goal or a dream, you help them achieve it.

It’s not about me or what I want. It’s about helping young people go after something that maybe they couldn’t even imagine. In this climate people don’t even want to try ‘cause when they do it’s on social media if they fail. It’s my job to help them and my staff’s job to help them be brave enough to go after their dreams.

Hosting will mean these young ladies, Team 50, were brave enough to go after their dreams, even when we lost to Texas A&M. Even when we lost to Texas close (or) to South Carolina.

ON THIENOU’S IMPORTANCE

McPhee-McCuin: Very important. We went through a seven-game stretch where Sira just disappeared. One of the things that her and I have in common is we both migrated over to play college basketball. I just had to remind her, like, I came to the United States on the same visa. When Sira first came on campus I was blown away by how hard she practices. I said, ‘Why do you go so hard?’ And she said, ‘Because I can’t afford not to.’ 

This is a young lady that takes care of her family, and I think she forgot that, because sometimes you can get Americanized. We live so well in America. Food is a luxury. Lavish. I needed her to remember what she said to me when she said I can’t afford to fail. Like, I don’t have a choice. That’s a different type of hunger and a different type of attitude and gratitude and competitiveness. 

You’re seeing her getting her groove back and remembering where she comes from and why she’s doing it.