Rebels Continue Homestand vs. Temple on Wednesday

			OLE MISS (1-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. TEMPLE (2-0, 0-0 American) Wednesday, Nov. 14 • 6 PM • Oxford, Miss. The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500) Fansgiving
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OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss women's basketball looks to bounce back when the Temple Owls make the trip from Philadelphia to The Pavilion for a Wednesday night contest. Tipoff is set for SEC Network + for 6 p.m. CT.

TEAM FACTS

Ole Miss Rebels (1-1, 0-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Yolett McPhee-McCuin • 1st Season at Ole Miss (1-1) • 95-64 career record (6th Season)

Temple Owls (2-0, 0-0 American)
Head Coach: Tonya Cardoza • 11th Season at Temple (202-128) • 202-128 career record (11th season)

ON THE AIR

Television/Online: SEC Network +
Play-by-Play: Seth Austin (@SethAustinTV)
Color: Lindsay Roy (@roylindsaym)

OLE MISS RADIO

Play-by-Play: Graham Doty (@GrahamDoty)
Audio: TuneIn / RebelVision

SERIES NOTES (Ole Miss leads, 3-1)
At Oxford: Ole Miss leads 1-0
At Temple: Tied 1-1
At Neutral Sites: Ole Miss leads 1-0
Longest UM Streak: 2 (2002-2017)
Longest TU Streak: 1 (2001)
Biggest UM Win: 16 (11/25/17 - at Honolulu)
Biggest TU Win: 15 (12/31/01 - at Philadelphia)
Most UM Points: 84 (1/4/85 - at Honolulu)
Most TU Points: 84 (12/31/01 - at Philadelphia)

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SCOUTING TEMPLE

Series History
Ole Miss leads, 3-1

Last Meeting
W, 64-48, in Philadelphia

First Meeting
W, 84-74, at Honolulu

2017-18 Record: 12-19, 3-13
• Return eight letterwinners, three starters

Leading Scorer
Mia Davis
• 16.5 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 50.0 FG%, .733 FT%
• Preseason All-AAC
• 2018 AAC All-Freshman team
• Started 31 games in 2017-18

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TEAM NOTES

LAST TIME OUT (vs. IUPUI)
The Rebels put up a tough fight against an upstart IUPUI squad, but several timely Jaguar runs and a clutch performance out of the Horizon League preseason player of the year proved too much in a 66-58 loss at The Pavilion on Nov. 9.

The Rebels (1-1) were neck-and-neck with the Jaguars (2-0) throughout the first half – even holding them to an 18.2 percent clip in the first quarter – but IUPUI rode on the backs of Macee Williams (23 points, 12 rebounds) and Sydney Hall (17 points) toward a big second half en route to victory.

All in all, it was a Jaguar advantage in free throws (17-of-22) and rebounds (52-34) that ended up being the difference in an otherwise evenly-fought, back-and-forth affair.

Ole Miss wasn't without its bright spots, though, as senior Crystal Allen put together another spectacular night with 21 points, five boards, one block, one steal and one assist. Her performance tonight is the sixth-best individual scoring output in the SEC this season, and combines with her 16-point effort vs. Norfolk State for a strong first week of action as a Rebel.

Friday night also saw the first double-digit scoring effort from senior Shandricka Sessom, who played in her second game in a return from a season-ending knee injury last season. Sessom ended with 11 points, four boards, two blocks and one steal – moving her to 1,145 career points scored.

ALL-TIME VS. TEMPLE
Wednesday night's matchup marks the fifth meeting all-time between the Rebels and Owls, and the second in as many years. Ole Miss holds a 3-1 series advantage over Temple, which includes a 64-48 victory in Philadelphia last November.

The squads have met in Oxford once before on Jan. 2, 2002, when the Rebels prevailed in a narrow 54-53 victory. The lone Owl win in the series came in Philadelphis on New Year's Eve in 2001, as Temple won 84-69.

ROAD TO 100
First-year head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin may have just started her Ole Miss career, but she stands just five wins away from hitting the century mark for her career -- currently sitting at an overall mark of 95-64.

McPhee-McCuin is in her sixth season overall as a head coach, spending the previous five seasons as the head coach at Jacksonville. There, she guided the Dolphins to a 94-63 overall record, three-straight 20-win seasons and three postseason appearances.

DEFENSE! DEFENSE!
The Rebel defense has gotten off to a strong start through two games of the 2018-19 season. Ole Miss ranks within the top-half of the SEC in three-point defense (20.0 percent, fifth), blocks (6.0/game, sixth), turnover margin (+3.5, seventh), overall shooting defense (30.8 percent, seventh), defensive rebounds (26.0/game, seventh) and steals (9.5/game, eighth).

Defense was particularly the name of the game for Ole Miss vs. Norfolk State, holding the Spartans to several scoreless droughts of five minutes or longer – including a streak of 5:29 to close the game – forcing 24 NSU turnovers, tallying 11 steals and holding them to a shooting percentage of 26.5 from the floor. On top of that, the Rebels turned those 24 turnovers into 24 points as well.

SHARING IS CARING
Ole Miss also ranks within the upper half of the SEC in assists, dishing out 14.0 dimes per game through the first two contests. Ole Miss opened the season with 15 assists vs. Norfolk State, and followed that up with 13 vs. IUPUI -- the first time the Rebels have had at least 13 in back-to-back games since Feb. 8 and Feb. 11 of last year. Ole Miss had 12 assists in the first half alone vs. Norfolk State in the season opener. Last season, Ole Miss had 14 entire games where it did not reach the 12 assist plateau.

NEWCOMERS TAKING CHARGE
The Rebel newcomers have wasted no time in establishing their presence early on through two games in the 2018-19 season. Entering Wednesday night's matchup with Temple, Ole Miss newcomers are accounting for 96 of the 118 total points scored by the Rebels, which comes out to 81.4 percent.

That percentage reached all the way to 91.7 percent in the season opener vs. Norfolk State, as newcomers and freshmen tallied 55 of the 60 points scored.

Redshirt senior Crystal Allen has 37 points alone this season (18.5 PPG), which accounts for 31.4 percent of all Rebel scoring by herself.

WIN STARTS COACH YO ERA
It wasn't just the start of the Coach Yo era, it was the triumphant debut of several new Rebels as Ole Miss handed first-year head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin her first win after a 60-42 victory over Norfolk State at The Pavilion on Nov. 6.

Ole Miss struggled right off the bat as the Spartans came out swinging, but a stifling Rebel defense and an offensive surge in the middle frames helped lift Ole Miss over a Norfolk State team that won 18 games a year ago.

It was the Rebel newcomers who led the charge both offensively, chief among them transfers Crystal Allen and Jhileiya Dunlap. Allen was the top scorer on the night at 16 points and three rebounds on 7-of-9 shooting from the charity stripe in 37 minutes played, but it was a string of seven straight points in the fourth quarter that put Ole Miss over the top down the stretch.

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INDIVIDUAL NOTES

CRYSTAL SHARP
Grad transfer Crystal Allen has been the offensive catalyst for the Rebels thus far this season, accounting for nearly a third of all Ole Miss scoring just two games into her Rebel career. Allen topped a 16-point debut vs. Norfolk State on Nov. 6 with an Ole Miss career-high 21 points vs. IUPUI, giving her 37 total (18.5 PPG) in her first week of action at Ole Miss. Her 21 points registered as the sixth-best scoring performance in the conference at the time.

Currently, she ranks seventh in the SEC in scoring, as well as sixth in minutes played at 36.5/game.

Allen came to Ole Miss following two seasons at UT-Arlington and two seasons at Seattle. Her final year at UT-Arlington, Allen earned Third-Team All-Sun Belt after helping lead the Mavericks to an 18-12 season with 11.7 PPG.

GET THAT OUTTA HERE!
Junior Jhileiya Dunlap has proven to be an effective jack-of-all-trades on the floor through two games as a Rebel, but she has specifically found a knack for swatting away shots. Through two games, Dunlap has notched seven of the 12 total blocks by Ole Miss -- putting her into a tie for fifth in the NCAA at 3.5/game.

DUNLAP'S BIG DEBUT
A return from shoulder injury wasn't going to slow down junior Jhileiya Dunlap in her first game as a Rebel vs. Norfolk State, proving her talent immediately as an all-around player. Dunlap notched the first Rebel double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 boards, but she didn't stop there, tallying four blocks, three steals and two assists in the effort as well.

Dunlap spent the previous two seasons at Gulf Coast State Community College, where she was part of two NJCAA semifinalist teams -- including a national title team in 2017. Dunlap was the Gatorade Player of the Year in South Carolina in 2015-16 coming out of high school.

LIKE RIDING A BIKE
Redshirt senior Shandricka Sessom may still be returning to full game speed following her season ending knee injury last season, but Rebel fans have seen flashes of the Preseason All-SEC player -- including an 11-point outing vs. IUPUI for her first double-digit effort of 2018-19.

Sessom has also added in 10 boards this season, putting her third on the roster at 5.0/game.

REDEMPTION FOR SESSOM
Redshirt senior Shandricka Sessom returns for one last go-round in a Rebel jersey following a gruesome ACL injury vs. Middle Tennessee last season after just seven games played. Sessom, who was averaging 17.7 PPG at the time of her injury, was awarded a fifth year of eligibility on a medical hardship waiver.

MOVIN' ON UP
Shandricka Sessom ranks as the active career scorer for the Rebels at 1,145 points -- currently the 24th-most in Ole Miss history. Sessom became the 28th 1,000-point scorer in program history vs. Texas A&M on Feb. 26, 2017. In her three full seasons of play, she averaged 341.6 points. If she were to maintain that average this season, Sessom would finish her career ranked 13th all-time.

Below are the next few ahead of her on the list:

19. Erika Sisk (2012-17) - 1,187
20. Charlotte Banks (1989-92) - 1,181
21. Shawn Goff (2005-09) - 1,179
22. Amber Watts (2001-05) - 1,169
23. Kris Stratton (1978-81) - 1,164

MIMI RUNNING THE SHOW
Redshirt freshman Mimi Reid has been given reigns of the Rebel offense to start her career, and she has already proven herself as a skilled distributor in her first two starts at Ole Miss. Reid, who missed the entire 2017-18 season due to a preseason injury, currently ranks tied for third in the SEC at 5.0 assists per game.

DOZIER A SPARK OFF THE BENCH
With Ole Miss falling down to an early lead against Norfolk State on Nov. 6, Shannon Dozier heard her number called off the bench to come in and give the Rebels a spark. She did that, and then some, helping break the Spartan run and turn the tide of the game early on in a strong first outing at Ole Miss.

Dozier ended up putting in 23 productive minutes off the bench, scoring 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting with three steals and two assists. Dozier comes to Oxford from Odessa College, where last year she averaged 11.0 PPG.

REBEL PRESENCE DOWN LOW
Seniors Cecilia Muhate and La'Karis Salter, along with junior Jhileiya Dunlap, have combined for a strong combo down low for the Rebels through these first two games. Combined, the trio has 36 boards among them (18.0/game), 10 of which came from Dunlap in her double-double effort in the season opener vs. Norfolk State.

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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Ole Miss has five seniors in 2018-19, with returnees Cecilia Muhate, Torri Lewis and Shandricka Sessom joining newcomer transfers Crystal Allen (UT-Arlington) and La'Karis Salter (Jacksonville) in the senior class.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Crystal Allen (UT-Arlington) and La'Karis Salter (Jacksonville) aren't the only newcomers to the Rebel roster. Other transfers include junior Jhileiya Dunlap from Gulf Coast State Community College, junior Shannon Dozier from Odessa College, and junior Deja Cage from DePaul. Cage will have to sit the 2018-19 season out due to NCAA rules.

Ole Miss also welcomed four new freshmen to Oxford this fall in Gabby Crawford (Munford, Tenn.), Mahogany Matthews (Raeford, N.C.), Taylor Smith (Marietta, Ga.) and Iyanla Kitchens (Lithonia, Ga.).

A NEW ERA
Ole Miss women's basketball stands on the cusp of a new era with Yolett McPhee-McCuin entering her first season as the ninth head coach in program history. McPhee-McCuin was named head coach on April 4, 2018 and introduced in a public ceremony two days later on April 6.

McPhee-McCuin, who also serves as the national coach for her native Bahamas, comes to Ole Miss following five seasons at Jacksonville, where she took the Dolphins to heights never before glimpsed in the history of the program. Her JU teams notched three-straight 20-win seasons to close out her career there, despite Jacksonville only recording two seasons above the 20-win plateau prior to her arrival.

Yolett McPhee-McCuin Coaching Career:
2019-Pres. -- Ole Miss, Head Coach
2014-18 -- Jacksonville, Head Coach
2011-13 -- Clemson, Assistant Coach
2009-10 -- Pittsburgh, Assistant Coach
2008 -- Portland, Assistant Coach
2006-07 -- Ark.-Pine Bluff, Assistant Coach
2005 -- Frank Phillips College, Assistant Coach

Record at Jacksonville:

Total (Five Seasons): 94-63, 50-24 ASUN

2017-18
24-9, 12-2 (2nd ASUN)
ASUN Tournament Runners-Up
WNIT First Round

2016-17
23-9, 11-3 (3rd ASUN)
ASUN Tournament Runners-Up
WNIT First Round

2015-16
22-11, 11-3 (2nd ASUN)
ASUN Tournament Champions
NCAA Tournament First Round

2014-15
12-17, 6-8 (4th ASUN)

2013-14
13-17, 10-8 (5th ASUN)

NEW STAFF
McPhee-McCuin's first task once arriving in Oxford was to surround herself with a brand new coaching staff. For her first season, that cast includes Chris Ayers, Tony Greene, and Ole Miss All-American Armintie Herrington, who was promoted from her previous position as the Coordinator of Player Engagement.

Chris Ayers - First Season
• Spent a decade in the high school and AAU ranks prior
• Has coached more than 100 athletes who went on to play either collegiately, professionally or both
• Graduate manager at Georgia Tech in 2017-18

Tony Greene - First Season
• More than 20 years of experience collegiately
• Has been part of 11 total postseason berths
• Conference Player of the Year at Langston

Armintie Herrington - Fifth Season
• Seventh season on staff at Ole Miss, the fifth as an assistant coach after serving from 2009-12
• No. 3 pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft (Chicago Sky)
• In 2007, became second player in NCAA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 400 assists and 400 steals

MORE NEW FACES
McPhee-McCuin has also brought on a new support staff, while keeping on sixth-year senior athletic trainer Meredith Pendergast.

Dana Rieger
Director of Operations

Tim Boeni
Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach

Michonné Gamble-Rivers
Coordinator of Player Development

Ed Mahan
Coordinator of Video Services

Chelsea Wolf
Assistant Director of On-Campus Recruiting

Sandy Dickinson
Recruiting Assistant

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA
Ole Miss will be featured on national television seven times during the regular season, with all seven appearances on SEC Network. First up is a home contest in the Big 12/SEC Contest vs. TCU on Nov. 29. Other home games on SEC Network include a Jan. 6 tilt vs. Arkansas and a Jan. 20 showdown with Florida. The remaining SEC Network games all come on the road at Kentucky (Jan. 13), at Mississippi State (Jan. 27), at Georgia (Feb. 18) and at Arkansas (Feb. 24). Additionally, all non-televised home games and road SEC games will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

TOUGH SLATE IN STORE AT PARADISE JAM
Ole Miss will spend some time on the beach over Thanksgiving for the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but will face serious competition across three days of action. First up, the Rebels will square off against UConn on Nov. 22. The Huskies are coming off their 10th-straight trip to the Final Four after going 36-1, and they return three starters from that squad. Afterward, the Rebels will face Purdue (Nov. 23) and St. John's (Nov. 24) to close out their stay in St. Thomas. Ole Miss and UConn have never played, but the Rebels own the only victories in the series vs. Purdue (W, 62-54, Dec. 21, 1993, in Puerto Rico) and St. John's (W, 62-56, Dec. 29, 1992, in Jamaica, N.Y.).

Follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWBB, Facebook at Ole Miss WBB on Instagram at Ole MissWBB and on Snapchat with the handle @OleMissWBB. You can also follow head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin on Twitter at @YolettMcCuin

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Players Mentioned

Crystal Allen

Deja Cage

Gabby Crawford

Shannon Dozier

Iyanla Kitchens

Torri Lewis

Mahogany Matthews

Cecilia Muhate

Mimi Reid

La'Karis Salter

Shandricka Sessom

Taylor Smith

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