No. 18 Ole Miss (16-4, 3-2 SEC) will attempt to resurrect the team that took the Georgia Bulldogs to the woodshed in Oxford on New Year’s Day tonight when the Rebels play at Missouri in women’s basketball action.
Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network+.
Why the need for resurrection? Because Georgia returned the favor last Sunday with an 82-59 thrashing of the Rebels in Athens.
“I can’t really explain what happened in the Georgia,” said Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin. “I just know that we didn’t come out and play…anything like what we’d been playing.”
Instead of throwing chairs Bobby Knight-style, Yo’ and the Rebels took a more cerebral approach to the disaster.
“We were able to look at that, address that, see where we went wrong. Now we just focus on going 1-0 moving forward,” she continued.
Yo’ is excited to see how her team responds tonight versus a Missouri squad that has assembled a 13-8 record but has struggled in the SEC at 1-5.
“That (Georgia) was probably our worst loss in like four years, honestly” she laughed. “I’m laughing because I just think basketball is an incredible sport that keeps you on your toes, keeps you humble and allows you to make a decision. Either you are going to respond in a great way, or you’re not. And if we don’t respond (tonight), then we still have some work to do in that area, and if we do respond then we have grown.”
Ole Miss is fielding a roster this season with 82 percent of new players via the transfer portal and high school signees. She still belies her team has its best basketball ahead.
BACK TO THE GEORGIA EFFORT
“Honestly, it was like we were in a twilight zone,” she related. “Like I had never experienced anything like that in a long time. The last time we experienced something like that, we weren’t really good…What was interesting about it was offensive rebounds was a huge margin that we had against them. We didn’t turn the ball over. We didn’t have 10 turnovers. We made a lot of free throws. There was just a lid on the rim.
“What it did, though, was it made our team tighter than normal. I think we went through like a mini identity crisis.”
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT
In her first season at Missouri, Kellie Harper offers over 20 years of coaching experience, which includes stints as head coach at Tennessee and NC State. She’s accumulated over 400 career victories, which she reached this with Missouri’s 85-70 win over Northwestern. Harper has led the Tigers to a 13-8 record entering Thursday’s competition, and are coming off an 89-71 loss to Florida. Missouri is 1-4 in SEC play thus far.
Junior guard Grace Slaughter is back for her third season in Columbia, and has established herself as one of the best Tigers in program history. A member of the 2023-24 All-SEC Freshman Team, she’s averaging a team-high 19.0 points. She’s pulling double duty as the team’s best rebounder with 7.6 per game.
Behind Slaughter is Shannon Dowell, who is averaging 15.9 points per game. She’s just behind Slaughter in terms of field goal percentage, with her 46.2 percent clip sitting 16th in the SEC. Despite Slaughter leading the team in rebounds, Missouri also has Jordana Reisma, who ranks in the top 10 of active SEC players in career rebounds and blocks.
Missouri has very capable shooters, ranging from the post to beyond the arc. Slaughter is capable, making 40.4 percent of her deep shots, but so is Chloe Sotell and Abbey Schreacke, who are fifth and sixth, respectively, in the SEC in 3-point shooting percentage. Both athletes have at least 40 made threes this season, with Slaughter just behind with 38.
On top of its solid long-range shooting, Ole Miss will need to play clean ball against Missouri, as the Tigers are the top free throw shooting team in the conference. Ranked seventh in the nation, Missouri is making 79.6 percent of its free throws this season.
SEC WOMEN”S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
| conf | cpct | overall | opct | home | road | neutral | strk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vanderbilt | 5-0 | 1.000 | 19-0 | 1.000 | 10-0 | 5-0 | 4-0 | W19 |
 South Carolina | 5-0 | 1.000 | 19-1 | 0.950 | 11-0 | 6-0 | 2-1 | W12 |
 Tennessee | 5-0 | 1.000 | 13-3 | 0.813 | 7-0 | 6-1 | 0-2 | W6 |
 Texas | 4-2 | 0.667 | 19-2 | 0.905 | 13-0 | 3-2 | 3-0 | W1 |
 Kentucky | 4-2 | 0.667 | 17-3 | 0.850 | 10-0 | 6-2 | 1-1 | L1 |
 LSU | 3-2 | 0.600 | 17-2 | 0.895 | 8-1 | 6-1 | 3-0 | W3 |
 Ole Miss | 3-2 | 0.600 | 16-4 | 0.800 | 10-0 | 3-2 | 3-2 | L1 |
 Alabama | 3-3 | 0.500 | 17-3 | 0.850 | 14-1 | 1-2 | 2-0 | L2 |
 Georgia | 2-3 | 0.400 | 16-3 | 0.842 | 10-1 | 2-2 | 4-0 | W1 |
 Oklahoma | 2-3 | 0.400 | 14-4 | 0.778 | 9-2 | 2-1 | 3-1 | L3 |
 Auburn | 2-3 | 0.400 | 13-6 | 0.684 | 9-2 | 2-4 | 2-0 | W2 |
 Mississippi State | 2-4 | 0.333 | 15-5 | 0.750 | 12-2 | 1-3 | 2-0 | W1 |
 Texas A&M | 1-4 | 0.200 | 8-6 | 0.571 | 4-3 | 2-2 | 2-1 | L2 |
 Florida | 1-5 | 0.167 | 13-8 | 0.619 | 10-3 | 1-5 | 2-0 | W1 |
 Missouri | 1-5 | 0.167 | 13-8 | 0.619 | 8-4 | 2-3 | 3-1 | L1 |
 Arkansas | 0-5 | 0.000 | 11-9 | 0.550 | 8-4 | 1-5 | 2-0 | L6 |