Ole Miss women’s basketball returns home to host Little Rock on Saturday
OXFORD, Miss. — (Release) Coming off of three wins in the Bahamas and the Battle4Atlantis Championship, Ole Miss returns to Oxford to welcome Little Rock to the SJB Pavilion. Tipoff against the Trojans is slated for 3 p.m. CT and streaming on SEC Network +
TEAM FACTS
No. 24/25 Ole Miss Rebels (5-1, 0-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Yolett McPhee-McCuin • 6th Season at Ole Miss (84-76) • 11th Season in Career (178-139)
Little Rock Trojans (0-4, 0-0 OVC)
Head Coach: Joe Foley • 21st Season at Little Rock (398-229) • 37th Season in Career (854-310)
ON THE AIR
Television/Online:Â SEC Network +
Play by Play: Jake Hromada
Analyst: Lindsay King
Radio:Â 105.1 FM
Play by Play: Graham Doty
SERIES NOTES
OLE MISS VS. LITTLE ROCK
The Rebels meet Little Rock for the second year in a row, after traveling to Arkansas last year and defeated the Trojans, 58-40.
All-time, Ole Miss leads Little Rock 6-1 in a series that dates back to 1999. In Oxford, the Rebels lead 2-1.
Last season in Little Rock, Marquesha Davis carried the Rebels with 13 points off of 6-of-8 shooting. Off the glass, Madison Scott led the Rebels with 10 rebounds and added eight points against the Trojans.
REBELS VS. THE OVC
Against opponents from the Ohio Valley Conference all-time, Ole Miss is 29-7. A majority of those wins have come against Tennessee Tech and Little Rock with 15 and six.
TEAM NOTESÂ
BATTLE. WON.
In her home country of the Bahamas, head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin had herself quite the homecoming with Ole Miss defeating Howard, Arizona and Michigan to claim the 2023 Bad Boy Mowers Battle4Atlantis Championship.
In the championship game against Michigan, Ole Miss shut down the Wolverine offense and came together as a team to win, 60-49.
Off the bench, Marija Avlijas led the Rebels in scoring with a career-high 11 points. Madison Scott joined her in double-figures with 10 points. 10 Rebels made their way into the scoring column, with 12 hitting the court for Ole Miss.
The title is the second tournament win under McPhee-McCuin after winning the 2021 Raising the B.A.R. Invitational Powered by Cal in Berkeley.
WE LOVE NO. 1
Despite leaving the islands with a trophy, Ole Miss lost starting point guard KK Deans for the season.
After suffering a non-contact knee injury in the opening minutes against Michigan, Deans will undergo season ending surgery.
The graduate transfer had been averaging 9.3 points and led the Rebels with 3.8 assists per game. Deans reached double-figure scoring in three games, including a season-high 16 points against Temple.
According to ESPN, Deans was rated as one of ESPN’s Top-15 available transfers. Through 114 career appearances, the Greensboro, N.C., native had been averaging 11.6 points per game and accumulated 365 assists.
MVP! MVP! MVP!
Showing up and showing out in the Bahamas, Madison Scott was dominant throughout all three games at the Battle4Atlantis, averaging 13.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.
Her stellar performance earned the senior the tournament’s most valuable player and all tournament team honors. In the opener against Howard, Scott dropped a career-high tying 21 points and was electric off the glass with a season-high 14 rebounds against the Bison.
The SEC recognized Scott’s efforts as well, with her earning SEC Co-Athlete of the Week Honors. The accolade was the first SEC Athlete of the Week honors for Ole Miss since Angel Baker earned the award in December of 2021 and the first of Scott’s career.
HERE COMES THE SERBIAN SENSATION
Coming off of the bench following KK Deans going down against Michigan, freshman Marija Avlijas came in and looked like a veteran.
The Belgrade, Serbia, native, dropped a career-best 11 points against the Wolverines off of 5-of-10 shooting.
Avlijas is no stranger to the big stage after spending time on the pro-circuit in Europe and with the Serbian National Team
DICTATE AND DISRUPT
It should be well known by now the goals of the Ole Miss defense to dictate and disrupt and the Rebels sure made Arizona and Michigan uncomfortable, holding the two programs to under 50 points at 47 and 49.
In yet another defensive clinic in the Battle4Atlantis Championship game against Michigan, Ole Miss held yet another Power Five team under 50 points in the second straight game for the first time in program history.
MILESTONE WATCH
SNUDDA COLLINS
• 147 career made three’s – needs 18 more to crack top-five in Ole Miss history.
MADISON SCOTT
• 996 career-points – would become 29th player to score 1,000 points at Ole Miss.
• 24 career double-doubles – currently sits at No. 9 at Ole Miss.
KENNEDY TODD-WILLIAMS
• 976 career-points – 24 away from 1,000.
FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE QUE
Ever since cracking the starting lineup mid-way through last season, Marquesha Davis has blossomed as one of Ole Miss’ rising stars.
Her calm demeanor has proven to be a key factor for the Rebels, averaging 10.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in her Ole Miss career.
Against Arizona, Davis put on a season-best performance with 17 points. In six games this year, Davis is averaging 11.8 points per contest.
Her play in the Bahamas earned her Battle4Atlantis All-Tournament Team honors after averaging 12.7 points throughout the tournament.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE, MADI’S CAUSING TROUBLE
Notching her 24th career double-double against Arizona with 10 points and 11 rebounds, Madison Scott now sits ninth at Ole Miss in the category.
Her performance against the Wildcats was her second consecutive double-double after recording 21 points and 14 rebounds against Howard. This is the first time since December of 2022 that Scot recorded a double-double in back-to-back games.
WE DEFEND LIKE NO OTHER
An intense defensive battle against Arizona once again proved how dangerous the Ole Miss defense is, only allowing 47 points against a potent Wildcat offense.
Ole Miss followed up this performance, holding Michigan to 49 points.
For the third time this season Ole Miss held its opponent to under 50-points. The Rebels have now held its last two Pac-12 opponents to under 50-points in scoring, keeping Stanford to 49 last year in the NCAA Tournament.
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Ole Miss has now held eight Power Five opponents under 50 points.
SHOTS UP AND ON POINT
While the Rebels were smoothly spreading the ball around against Temple, Ole Miss was draining its shots at a high percentage. 51.8% on the game to be exact.
A big first quarter in which the Rebs shot 10-15 from the field for a clip of 66.7%, aided the team to record its highest field goal percentage against a non-conference opponent since Ole Miss shot 53.7% at Cincinnati in December of 2021.
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
Against Oklahoma and Temple, five players scored in double-figures for Ole Miss in a rare occurrence for the program.
The Rebels last had five players in double-digit scoring once during the 2021-22 season, happening against Mississippi State and Texas A&M.
HOME SWEET HOME
Rebel nation has turned the SJB Pavilion into an intimidating environment for visiting teams, especially in the non-conference slate.
Ole Miss has won 21 of its last 23 games at home against non-conference visitors, dating back to the 2020 season.
DYNAMIC DUO
Now in year four together, Snudda Collins and Madison Scott feed off one another with the pair contributing to each other’s success on the court.
When both Collins and Scott finish in double-figure scoring, the Rebels are bound to win at a record of16-1.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
