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Is No. 17 Ole Miss the most maddening team in all of women’s college basketball?
The Rebels have remained firmly in the top 20 throughout the season, yet, even after entering the season ranked No. 12, never truly threatened the top 10—with their middle-of-the-pack position reflective of a resume that is both pockmarked by bad losses and buoyed by great wins.
The Rebels lost to a barely .500 Kansas State team, managed to score only 49 points against Michigan State when the Spartans had just entered the top 25 and were blown out by then-unranked Georgia. Conversely, they were near-dominant in wins over then-No. 5 Oklahoma and now-No. 5 Vanderbilt.
On Sunday afternoon, Ole Miss turned in the kind of performance that is cause for skepticism, falling in a mostly uncompetitive 74-57 loss to No. 16 Kentucky. They then reversed course, responding with an inspiring effort on Tuesday night, leading by as many as 26 points before winning 94-81 over No. 21 Tennessee (a team that also could claim the “most maddening” crown).
Cotie McMahon captained Ole Miss’ resounding victory, scoring a career-high 39 points. McMahon attacked the Tennessee defense with intentionality and alacrity, exploding to the basket on drives, comfortably and confidently rising for midrangers and even hitting a pull-up 3.
And when she wasn’t scoring from all over the floor, McMahon got to the line, going 14-for-18 on free throws. Along the way, she also scored her 2,000th-career point, becoming just the fifth player who has worn an Ole Miss uniform to reach the milestone.
Add in 10 boards for the double-double and five assists, and it’s easy to understand why head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin called her a “generational player.” Coach Yo also credited McMahon’s willingness to take criticism, sharing that, “She is the only star player I have had who lets me get on her, that doesn’t give me any lip.”
McMahon herself took responsibility for the team’s poor showing against Kentucky, when she still led the team with 18 points, albeit on 18 shot attempts. After her best game yet as a Rebel, she suggested, “I feel like I owed it to my team,” before later asserting of her team, “We’re built for this.”
The rest of the week, certainly, will reveal the make up of the Rebels and McMahon. Are they constructed to thrive in the trenches of the SEC and come out near the top? Or, is the foundation shaky, at risk of collapsing under pressure?
Because Tuesday’s game against Tennessee was re-scheduled from Jan. 26, when winter weather in Oxford led to the postponement, Ole Miss plays again on Thursday and again on Sunday. And their opponents are two of the toughest in the SEC: No. 7 LSU and No. 3 South Carolina. Coach Yo is not wrong for suggesting the compacted three-game slate is more difficult than what the Rebels can expect in the NCAA Tournament.
The Rebels host the Tigers on Thursday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) before traveling to Columbia for a date with the Gamecocks on Sunday (12 p.m. ET, ESPN).
As this is her first season in the SEC, McMahon has never matched up against LSU or South Carolina. Ole Miss has struggled against both squads, with their 20-straight losses against South Carolina and 1-12 record against LSU over their last 13 games confirming their status as second-tier SEC team.
That one win against LSU, however, came last time the Rebels played the Tigers, a 85-77 upset in Baton Rouge in the last game of the 2024-25 regular season. While both teams will take the court with much different rosters on Thursday, especially since LSU did not have the services of Flau’Jae Johnson or Mikaylah Williams in the loss, that win should still give the Rebels some extra confidence.
That they now have McMahon, who is capable of being the best on player on the floor, should give them even more. It will be interesting to see who LSU head coach Kim Mulkey deploys against McMahon, who has strength to overpower guards and wings and the quickness to blow by bigs. That she tore up Tennessee, one the SEC’s more athletic team, suggest that, if she again plays a decisive and purposeful offensive game, she can do the same against LSU.
Ole Miss fans should hope to hear Mulkey screaming, “Who can guard Cotie?”
And yet, for all the reasons to feel good about Ole Miss’ chances of scoring the upset and securing a second-straight big SEC win, a sense of skepticism persists.
Whether the Rebels rest on their laurels, look ahead to South Carolina, just come out flat or fail to persevere through missed shots, it’s easy to envision a performance that indicates the win over Tennessee, as well as the mentality expressed afterwards, was an exception, or at least an identity that cannot be maintained. In other words, Ole Miss would, unfortunately, prove once again to be untrustworthy, a talented team that cannot capture the consistency needed to be a great team. And that’s maddening!
Or, maybe McMahon and the Rebels will just make (another) Kim mad…
