Ole Miss Basketball: Lady Rebels roll while men’s team struggles

Ole Miss basketball the Pavilion (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Ole Miss basketball the Pavilion (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

It’s been a tale of two seasons for the Ole Miss basketball programs this year. The Ole Miss men’s program has been on a downward spiral as of late while the Lady Rebels are rolling and have been a pleasant surprise this season.

The Ole Miss men’s basketball team just dropped their sixth game in a row losing a tight contest to the Georgia Bulldogs 62-58. This loss makes them 2-9 over their last 11 games after starting the season 6-0.

Kermit Davis now sits at 4-20 against SEC opponents since last year and 1-14 in the Rebel’s previous 15 games against SEC teams. Fans have not been happy with Davis and if the seat wasn’t already hot it’s going to undoubtedly warm up barring a miraculous turnaround of the Ole Miss basketball season.

On the contrary, the Ole Miss women’s basketball program is having a stellar year so far in the 2022-23 season. The Lady Rebels currently sit at 16-3 with their only losses coming from Alabama, Oklahoma, and 17th overall-ranked Utah earlier this year.

Ole Miss basketball women’s head coach, Yolett McPhee-McCuin, better known as Coach “Yo” among the Rebel faithful, can be credited for the turnaround of the women’s program after over a decade straight of losing seasons.

Coach Yo has the Lady Rebels right on track to make a run at a second NCAA tournament appearance in two years. Last year the Lady Rebels made the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2006-07 season when they made an appearance in the the Elite Eight.

In her first two seasons at the helm, McPhee-McCuin was just 16-45 overall including going winless at 0-16 in the SEC in her second year. She was eventually able to get the train on the right track and this will be her third year in a row of leading the Ole Miss women’s program to a winning season.

The Lady Rebels could find themselves ranked inside the top 25 before the end of the season if they continue to play well and stack up wins.

Both of the Ole Miss basketball programs will be in action again soon while the Men will take on South Carolina tonight in Columbia and the women’s next game will be on 1/22 against a tough Auburn opponent.