Yolett McPhee-McCuin going through 'a lot of learning' with this season's Ole Miss team

The start of the 2022-23 season for Yolett McPhee-McCuin has been one of ups and downs and a lot of learning on the job with this iteration of the Ole Miss women’s basketball team.

With nine new players and 10 new staff members within the program this season there have been plenty of growing pains, but the results are coming.

Through nine games Ole Miss is 7-2 with the pair of losses coming against a Top-20 Utah squad and on the road at Oklahoma. Both losses were by a combined 12 points and the Utah defeat was in overtime.

After a week off since falling in Norman last Sunday Ole Miss is set to resume its schedule and a busy rest of December. The Rebels are set to play their final four non-conference games across 10 days starting on Sunday against Jacksonville State.

Ole Miss will open Southeastern Conference play against Auburn on Dec. 29.

“It’s been a lot of learning, a lot of adjustment,” McCuin said on Thursday. “I feel like the schedule is going as planned. I love how the schedule is working itself out for us and hopefully we can finish out these next four games strong to put us in position for SEC play.”

Utah and Oklahoma served as the first two measuring stick games for McCuin and a chance to learn about this Ole Miss team.

A two-point loss to the Utes and a 10-point loss to the Sooners, two games which Ole Miss led at times, are tough to swallow but coming in late November and early December not resume killers.

Getting that kind of experience against a ranked opponent and a NCAA Tournament-bound team is valuable in the early part of a season.

With new players trying to find their way in McCuin’s system, including Mississippi State transfer Myah Taylor, every minute of games such as those matter.

“Both Utah and Oklahoma are incredibly experienced team, like we were last year,” McCuin said. “With our group we have a small margin of error that I don’t know they realize, yet. It’s my job to help them see that they have a small margin of error. Both (games) were in an environment that were a little different, in being a true road game at Oklahoma (with) 4,000 fans and then Utah being on the road and we had the chance to win both games.”

Having the chance to win both of those games encourages McCuin who stated she does not think Ole Miss will play its best basketball “until February.”

Related: Slow starts have been a ‘theme’ for Ole Miss basketball early this season

Peaking in February is what a coach wants to see as it is the final push to March Madness and a NCAA Tournament berth.

The task for McCuin is to try and keep Ole Miss’ season between the ditches, so to speak, over the next two months. One of those two months includes eight SEC games.

Heading into this weekend Ole Miss is sitting firmly in the field of 64, according to ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme. In Creme’s latest bracket update released on Tuesday the Rebels were a 10 Seed in the Greenville Region and one of his Last Four Bye teams.

With 15 games between now and that target month of February the slim margin for error that Ole Miss has is only going to get slimmer with SEC opponents on the horizon.

“We had the chance to win both games and that’s encouraging, to say the least, because I don’t know that we’ll play our best basketball until February,” McCuin said.

“We got to keep guarding. I am really surprised at how further along our defense is because it is a system and it takes a while. But the buy in has been incredible. Offensively, we will get better and the two things that I told our team this morning that I’m going to evaluate them on these next four games and even going into conference play is togetherness and toughness.”

Ole Miss hosts Jacksonville State (3-3) on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT and will air on the SEC Network.

Watch McCuin’s full press conference from Thursday below. Video provided by Ole Miss Sports Productions.