The Ole Miss Women’s Basketball team will face Auburn at home tonight, in hopes of bouncing back from tough losses in the past few games.
The team has now lost two games in a row after losses on the road to Vanderbilt and then-No. 7 Mississippi State. The last two losses came after the team recorded back-to-back quality wins against then-No. 16 Kentucky on the road and Florida at home.
“It was an extremely physical game (against Mississippi State), and we need to get back to the things that helped us build along the way,” head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. “Flying around defensively, keeping people out of the paint. … We need to get back to our scheme.”
Auburn is just 3-4 in conference play but 15-5 overall, and the team is looking to return to SEC contention. The Tigers enter the game with an impressive 7-2 road record and will be a formidable foe for a rebuilding Ole Miss program.
Ole Miss is 8-13 on the season and 2-5 in conference play but has played slightly above expectations since reaching the halfway point in conference play. Picked to finish dead last in the SEC, the Rebels are currently tied with Tennessee for No. 12 and have already recorded a win on the road against a ranked opponent.
“We’ve been off (the past two games),” McPhee-McCuin said. “We played Auburn last year, so I’m familiar with them. You just have to be steady. You can’t be excited if you’re up, and you can’t think you’re out of it if you’re down. You just have to be steady the whole game because it’s gonna come in waves.”
McPhee-McCuin knows this will be a slow rebuilding process but she is encouraged by her team’s progress thus far. She said the loss to Mississippi State was an important one for her team and that they have learned a lot from it.
“This is a game both teams want to win desperately to get back in the win column,” McPhee-McCuin said. “I almost think we didn’t give ourselves a chance (against Mississippi State), and that was great for us to experience. Here’s what I know: Next time when we play them, it will be a different ballgame.”
The Rebels’ next game will be at home Sunday against Texas A&M. The game will be a “pink out” in honor of the Rebs’ Play4Kay game. Play4Kay is a fundraiser for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, which helps raise money for research into women’s cancers. The Play4Kay National Free Throw Challenge is an event held in February during which women’s collegiate basketball teams secure pledges and gifts, earning donations for every free throw made in the month of February. The team will honor cancer survivors on the court and play videos about the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
“It means a lot,” McPhee-McCuin said. “I’ve lost people from breast cancer, and I think everyone has been affected by it. We take that seriously because of the numbers in women. … It’s definitely something where we’re going to want to have a lot of pride when we play.”
