Ole Miss women's basketball used lengthy layoff to 'reset' and 'refocus' after two-game slide

The first month of the season was a roller coaster for the Ole Miss women’s basketball team and head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin was living in a glass case of emotions due to season-ending injuries and unexpected losses.

After suffering their first loss of the season to Oklahoma in the second game of the year the Rebels went on to win five straight. But back-to-back losses to Louisville and Southern Mississippi put Ole Miss on a skid.

Then in the middle of all of it McCuin was left trying to deal with losing starting point guard KK Deans to a knee injury that required season-ending surgery. Ole Miss (6-3) was in need of a breather and it occurred after the loss to the Golden Eagles with a 10-day layoff before its next game.

With final exams taking place last week it was a good time for the entire staff and program to “reset and regroup,” according to McCuin.

“Our student-athletes have had a chance to start winter training camp, is what we call it, and have a chance to reset, refocus as a staff and a team,” McCuin said when speaking to local media on Monday.

“Sometimes players don’t like it because the coach will ride it out and just break down every, single aspect. But I think this team realized we did need to unpack some things. Readjust, refocus as there’s been a lot of change and we just needed to figure out what’s next.”

What is next for Ole Miss is a return to the court on Tuesday, hosting Mississippi Valley State (1-8). But what McCuin was referring more specifically is adjusting to life without a key piece of her team.

Deans transferred to Ole Miss from Florida and immediately became the starting point guard.

Things were going smooth for five-plus games until Deans suffered the injury against Michigan in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship last month.

In the three games since Ole Miss is 1-2 and been trying to learn what McCuin dubbed a “new” team a month into the season. Doing so against Little Rock worked out okay but losses to the Cardinals and Golden Eagles revealed it was going to be a tougher project to complete in-season than some might have expected.

Not having Deans has made the Rebels offense have to try and find a new identity, which has been troublesome due to the position in question that needed replacing.

“It would be like losing your quarterback and then having to readjust but not being able to readjust because you have a game in the next two days,” McCuin said. “It was just different for us. When you lose someone that is the head of the snake you really have to figure out how we can pivot and move forward with her absence.”

What the attempt to do so has been is McCuin relying on her two freshmen guards Marija Avlijas and Zakiya Stephenson heavily the last three games.

Both Stephenson and Avlijas have played in at least eight of the nine games with the latter playing in all nine. Each has at least one start between them as well.

Avlijas is averaging 2.9 points in 10.7 minutes per game and Stephenson 2.5 ppg in 12.5 minutes per game.

“I think what they’re learning is, ‘Okay, this is what you were talking about when you were hard on KK about this. This is what you meant during the games,'” McCuin said of her two freshmen. “They just have to get job experience. They can’t get that by sitting down and not getting any playing time.

“I’m not going to try to put everything on them to say, ‘Hey, KK’s gone now it’s your turn.’ I would love for that to be the case and if that’s what they want, great. But that’s not the expectation that I have and I’m not going to allow the team to have.”