Ole Miss Women’s Basketball Opens NCAA Tourney Against South Dakota

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

The No. 7 seed Ole Miss women’s basketball team gears up for their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament 15 seasons on Friday as they take on 10th seeded South Dakota Coyotes. Tipoff is set for for 12:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2 in Waco, Texas.

“So just excited to be back in the field of now 68. Our whole team is primed and ready,” head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. We’ve been preparing for this moment all season, and really looking forward to tipping off tomorrow.”

Ole Miss comes into the 2022 NCAA Tournament Wichita Region with a 23-8 overall record and finished SEC play with a 10-6 mark. 

The Rebels are returning to the court since falling 61-51 to South Carolina in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. 

Following a 15-year drought, the Rebels once again find themselves back in the national conversation with its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2007, for the program’s 18th overall.

The last time Ole Miss reached the big dance was a trip for the ages, when the seventh-seeded Rebels made a remarkable run to the Elite Eight.

South Dakota enters the NCAA Tournament with a 27-5 overall record and went 17-1 in the Summit League.

The Coyotes are led on the court by redshirt senior Chole Lamb who averages 18.0 points per night.

This year’s trip to the tournament is the second in McPhee-McCuin’s career as the coach took Jacksonville to the dance back in 2016.

The 16th seeded Dolphins made the trip to Columbia, South Carolina to face off against the No. 1 Gamecocks, falling 77-41 against the eventual Final Four squad.

Friday’s matchup will be the first all-time between the Rebels and the Coyotes.