Todd-Williams, Ole Miss ‘finding peak’ after bumpy (but still fruitful) February
February about brought it all for Kennedy Todd-Williams and Ole Miss women’s basketball.
First of the Month went swimmingly. Todd-Williams and the postseason-contending band of Rebels went up to Vanderbilt and left with a 67-61 win.
But disaster struck three days later. Top-ranked, and seemingly-unstoppable, South Carolina wiped the floor with the Rebels in a near-30-point rout in Columbia.
And yet somehow worse was Texas A&M.
Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin is, admittedly, unashamed in her outspokenness, and already this season she’s used the bully pulpit of her postgame press conference to get a point across.
But she was a different level of upset after a near-20-point HOME loss to the Aggies on February 8.
“Just incredibly disappointed in my team,” McPhee-McCuin said. “No fight, no effort, no maturity. I don’t even know who they were tonight, and I want to apologize to every fan that came out to support us. That’s not Ole Miss women’s basketball.”
When you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up.
And, well, Todd-Williams and Co. have won two in a row. Both were in overtime, including the last against those ‘hated’ in-state-rival Bulldogs from Mississippi State.
Next comes Georgia. The Rebels and Bulldogs are scheduled to tip off in Oxford Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
“It’s all about being better,” Todd-Williams said, in speaking to Jake Thompson of the Ole Miss Spirit on Tuesday. Thompson asked Todd-Williams what the Rebels have learned during this up-and-down month.
“Being better than we were and, you know, finding our peak. Most teams find their peak sometime in February. Just really finding (and) understanding that we don’t quit as a team. We’re tough, and we’re going to fight throughout the whole 40 minutes.”
The Rebels have won 18 games and lost seven.
The Gamecocks (25-0) are college basketball’s No. 1 team, and, naturally, sit atop the SEC (12-0) standings as well. Ole Miss (8-4) is fourth behind LSU (22-4, 9-3) and Tennessee (16-9, 9-4).
The Rebels defeated the Volunteers earlier this season. The then-ranked No. 7 Tigers took the Rebels down, 84-73, in Oxford in January.
“We’re in the backstretch, y’all,” Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, in also addressing Thompson, said Tuesday. “Four more games remaining.
“It hit me when I was walking out the house today. I only had two more stacks of tickets for games (and) we are now wanting to finish strong. As a program, we’re chasing something significant. We’re going to make sure we go into March red-hot.”
Here’s everything else Todd-Williams and McPhee McCuin had to say to Thompson in the extended media session.
The included videos were provided by Ole Miss Athletics. Also on Tuesday, Ole Miss senior forward Madison Scott was named SEC Co-Player of the Week.
“She’s super passionate about the game and our team,” Todd-Williams said of Scott, the statistical catalyst for Ole Miss in back-to-back overtime wins. “She’s really our emotional leader.
“She stepped up the last couple games. I’m really proud of her, because she’s worked so hard at this. The sky’s the limit for her. I’m glad to be her teammate.”
