Late February…and the schedule maker…has been unkind to the Ole Miss women’s basketball team. At one point. The Rebels looked like for-sure hosts for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Now, not so much.
Ole Miss (21-9, 8-7 SEC) has lost four of its last five games and three in a row. That doesn’t look good to anyone, and the NCAA Tournament selection committee will likely count a loss as a loss when it comes time to seed the field for March Madness, despite all of its Einstein -maddening theories and formulas.
The Rebels’ tired and rubber legs were never more evident than in their 37-point whipping last Sunday at South Carolina. They had still not regained their sea legs earlier this week when they suffered a surprising 74-67 loss at the Florida Gators.
If you believe in such things, the latest ESPN bracketology has Ole Miss headed to East Lansing, Mich., as a 15No. 5 seed and playing No. 12 seed Miami (Ohio) in a first-round game at Michigan State.
But Ole Miss is simply trying to finish league play with an above .500 record. They will have to beat a surging Texas A&M team inside the Pavilion on Sunday to do so. Yes, the SEC Tournament is to come, and with it presents opportunity, so there is that to cling to, we suppose.
Tip-off time is set for 1 p.m. CT. inside the John and Sandy Black Pavilion.
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M (13-11, 6-9 SEC)
Joni Taylor is in her fourth season guiding Texas A&M’s women’s basketball program. She’s accumulated a 51-63 overall record as the Aggies leader. Entering Sunday’s competition, the Aggies sit at 13-11 and are currently on a four-game winning streak. A win over No. 21 Tennessee kickstarted the streak, which was Texas A&M’s first ranked road win since January 2021.
The Aggies are averaging 66.0 points per game, most of it coming from Ny’Ceara Pryor. Pryor has the second most career points among all active SEC student-athletes, sitting north of 2,100 for her overall career. She scored most of her points at her previous school, Sacred Heart. For the Aggies, she leads the team with 15.9 points per game, which is top 15 in the SEC. She’s a true triple threat, as she also dishes out 7.3 assists and has 3.6 steals per game, the latter leads the conference.
Fatmata Janneh has been a solid addition to Texas A&M’s lineup from Saint Peters. The junior from London is averaging a double-double with 11.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. She has 11 double-doubles this season, which is tied with Ole Miss’ Christeen Iwuala for the fifth most in the conference.
Ole Miss superstar Cotie McMahon
SUPER HERO IN RED & BLUE
Cotie McMahon has provided a spark to the Ole Miss offense in her first season in Oxford. She now has 17 games of at least 20 points this season. It’s tied with Peggie Gillom (who did it twice) for the third most in a single season by any Rebel ever and is the most since Bianca Thomas had 19 such games in 2009-10. Thomas’ mark ranks second in program history. At the minimal level, McMahon has reached double-digit points in 28 games this season, which is the most by a Rebel since Crystal Allen had 28 in 2018-19. She also joins Angel Baker and Armintie Price as the only Rebels ever to have at least 2000 points, 600 rebounds and 300 assists in their career.0.
McMahon likes to share the love, as the five times that she has earned a double-double in a game, another Rebel has earned the same feat. Alongside McMahon, Christeen Iwuala earned double-doubles against Southern and Memphis, Latasha Lattimore earned two against Wofford and Tennessee, and Sira Thienou notched a double-double versus Missouri.
McMahon scored at least 10 points in each of Ole Miss’ first 19 games this season, tying Thomas for the longest such streak in recent memory by a Rebel, who started the 2009-10 season with 19 consecutive games of double-digit points.
HOW TO WATCH & LISTEN
ON THE AIR
Television: SEC Network+
Play-by-Play: Jake Hromada
Color: Lindsay King
OLE MISS RADIO
Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: Graham Doty
SEC STANDINGS
| conf | cpct | overall | opct | home | road | neutral | strk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 South Carolina | 14-1 | 0.933 | 28-2 | 0.933 | 16-0 | 10-1 | 2-1 | W9 |
 Texas | 12-3 | 0.800 | 27-3 | 0.900 | 18-0 | 6-3 | 3-0 | W4 |
 Vanderbilt | 12-3 | 0.800 | 26-3 | 0.897 | 16-0 | 6-2 | 4-1 | W2 |
 LSU | 11-4 | 0.733 | 25-4 | 0.862 | 13-2 | 9-2 | 3-0 | W3 |
 Oklahoma | 10-5 | 0.667 | 22-6 | 0.786 | 14-2 | 5-3 | 3-1 | W5 |
 Kentucky | 8-7 | 0.533 | 21-8 | 0.724 | 12-2 | 8-5 | 1-1 | W1 |
 Ole Miss | 8-7 | 0.533 | 21-9 | 0.700 | 12-1 | 4-5 | 5-3 | L3 |
 Tennessee | 8-7 | 0.533 | 16-11 | 0.593 | 9-3 | 7-6 | 0-2 | L5 |
 Alabama | 7-8 | 0.467 | 21-8 | 0.724 | 16-3 | 3-5 | 2-0 | L1 |
 Georgia | 7-8 | 0.467 | 21-8 | 0.724 | 11-4 | 6-4 | 4-0 | L1 |
 Texas A&M | 6-9 | 0.400 | 13-11 | 0.542 | 8-5 | 3-5 | 2-1 | W4 |
 Mississippi State | 5-10 | 0.333 | 18-11 | 0.621 | 13-4 | 3-7 | 2-0 | L3 |
 Florida | 5-10 | 0.333 | 17-13 | 0.567 | 12-5 | 2-8 | 3-0 | W1 |
 Missouri | 4-11 | 0.267 | 16-14 | 0.533 | 9-7 | 4-6 | 3-1 | L5 |
 Auburn | 3-12 | 0.200 | 14-15 | 0.483 | 9-7 | 3-7 | 2-1 | L2 |
 Arkansas | 0-15 | 0.000 | 11-19 | 0.367 | 8-9 | 1-10 | 2-0 | L16 |