March Reset: Ole Miss Women’s Basketball Looks to Reignite Season Against Auburn as SEC Tournament Action Begins

An inspiring, exciting start to the year. A team called the best she’s ever had by the head coach. A one-time projected NCAA Tournament host. A late January winter storm. A midseason schedule revision. A grind of games that no other team had to go through. A string of disappointing results. A team that some have called a shell of its former self from earlier in the year — but now, a chance for that team to rediscover its identity before March Madness gets fully underway.

These are all the ups and downs felt by the Ole Miss women’s basketball team, head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, and fans of the Rebels throughout the last few months as the team prepares to begin postseason play. And begin it they will, against an inferior opponent in a game that may well serve as an opportunity for Coach Yo’s Rebs to remind everyone of what they’re capable of.

That opportunity comes against Auburn tonight in the second round of the SEC Tournament. Even though Ole Miss is coming in on a five-game losing streak — having lost six of their final eight in the regular season — the Rebels enjoy a first-round bye in the conference tourney. Auburn, meanwhile, enters the contest with virtually nothing to play for other than the role of spoiler, sitting at a 15-16 overall record while having finished the regular season with a 3-13 mark in conference play, the second-worst in the league. That spoiler role was one head coach Larry Vickers’ Auburn team played just yesterday, when the Tigers effectively dashed the NCAA Tournament hopes of Texas A&M by handing the Aggies (who entered the game right outside the projected field of 68) a crushing first-round loss.

It has been a roller coaster of a season for Ole Miss women’s basketball, to say the least. In early February, McPhee-McCuin’s squad was sitting pretty at 19-4 overall and 6-2 in league play, with signature wins over Notre Dame, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt, and was firmly in the hosting conversation come NCAA Tournament time. But after suffering a heartbreaking one-point loss in Tuscaloosa, things started to unravel, though in fairness, it was at least partially due to circumstances outside of the team’s control.

The infamous late January winter storm that devastated Oxford for weeks resulted in a midseason schedule change, forcing the Rebels to play four games in one week, nearly all of which came against NCAA Tournament-projected teams—a brutal stretch that no other team in the country had to go through, and it was a stretch that was not easy for the team to navigate, as they lost all but two games in the regular season’s final month.

Still, there is much to be accomplished for the Rebels as March gets underway.

With a strong showing in Greenville, Ole Miss could work its way back toward the No. 5 seed line. A deep run—particularly a trip to the SEC Championship Game or a tournament title—could even push the Rebels back toward a No. 4 seed. Standing in their way today will be an Auburn team that has been an SEC bottom feeder all season, arriving at the conference tournament as the league’s second-to-last team in the standings.

When the two teams met earlier this season in February, the matchup was among the most one-sided of the year for the Rebels, as Ole Miss controlled the game throughout and rolled to a 71–45 victory, the Rebels’ largest margin of victory over an SEC opponent this season.

The statistical comparison between the two teams only reinforces that result.

Ole Miss averages 75.3 points per game this season, while Auburn ranks last in the SEC in scoring at just 59.7 points per contest. Defensively, the Rebels have also been slightly better, allowing 60.9 points per game compared to Auburn’s 62.5.

The Rebels also hold a clear advantage in shooting efficiency. Ole Miss connects on 42.7 percent of its field goal attempts, while Auburn shoots just 38.8 percent from the floor, the second-lowest mark in the conference.

On the glass, the difference is even more significant. Ole Miss averages 40.4 rebounds per game, while Auburn brings down just 31.5 per contest, the lowest total in the SEC.

Ball movement has been yet another area of concern for the Tigers this season, as they average a league-worst 9.3 assists per game to the Rebels’ 14.1.

And to top it all off, turnovers are another statistical metric that has weighed down Vickers’ team all year, as the Tigers commit 16.3 turnovers per game—fourth-most in the SEC.

Individually, the Rebels are led by star forward Cotie McMahon, who has paced the team throughout the season with 19.8 points per game. Auburn’s leading scorer, Harissoum Coulibaly, averages 10.7 points per contest.

Taken together, the numbers paint a clear picture: Ole Miss enters the matchup as the stronger team on paper, in almost every way possible.

But numbers alone will not determine the outcome of a conference tournament game.

The Rebels closed the regular season with a home loss to Texas A&M—the same team Auburn defeated in the opening round of the SEC Tournament—and at times appeared to lack the energy and urgency that defined much of their play earlier in the year. Fatigue may have played a role after the demanding stretch of games late in the season, as well as a key injury to Sira Thienou against Tennessee, but postseason basketball rarely allows time for explanations or excuses.

What Thursday’s game does offer, however, is an opportunity.

Against an Auburn team that has struggled throughout the year, Ole Miss has a chance to rediscover the identity that once made the Rebels one of the most dangerous teams in the SEC. If they can do that, the SEC Tournament could quickly shift from a chance at redemption to the beginning of another March run, right when it matters most.

Either way, it’ll be a chance to see just how much the Rebels want to prove to the college basketball world that their recent results will not be their standard come NCAA Tournament time.

Ole Miss takes on Auburn in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday, March 5, at 5:00 p.m. on SEC Network.