Rebels Look to Keep Rolling in Powder Blue Out vs. Western Michigan

			OLE MISS (2-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. WESTERN MICHIGAN (1-2, 0-0 MAC) Sunday, Nov. 18 • 2 PM • Oxford, Miss. The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500) Powder Blue Out • Rebel Kids Club Day • Postgame Autographs
Watch • Listen • Live Stats • Buy Tickets • OleMissGameday.com Ole Miss Game Notes • Western Michigan Game Notes • SEC Game Notes

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss women's basketball looks to improve to 3-1 when it plays host to Western Michigan for a Powder Blue Out on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. CT inside The Pavilion and on SEC Network +.

TEAM FACTS

Ole Miss Rebels (2-1, 0-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Yolett McPhee-McCuin • 1st Season at Ole Miss (2-1) • 96-64 career record (6th Season)

Western Michigan Broncos (1-2, 0-0 MAC)
Head Coach: Shane Clipfell • 7th Season at WMU (99-96) • 112-108 career record (8th season)

ON THE AIR

Television/Online: SEC Network +
Play-by-Play: Greg Gaston
Color: Lindsay Roy (@roylindsaym)

OLE MISS RADIO

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

SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN

Series History
First meeting

2017-18 Record: 18-15, 9-9
• Return 11 letterwinners, three starters

Players to Watch

Kamrin Reed
• 13.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, .406 FG, .353 3PT

Leighah-Amori Wool
• 13.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG, .833 FT

TEAM NOTES

LAST TIME OUT (vs. Temple)
Temple clawed their way back into the game after a huge first quarter, but the Rebels showed some resiliency and held on down the stretch to take a 62-55 win over the Owls at The Pavilion on Nov. 14.

Ole Miss (2-1) exploded out of the gates to a 21-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Temple counteracted with a strong middle half of the game to make it interesting in the fourth. It looked as though it would go right down to the wire, as the Owls pulled within three with 5:49 left to play, but the Rebels pushed back and hung tight for the win.

It took a complete team effort out of Ole Miss to be better than Temple, as the Rebels were all around solid in just about every category on Wednesday night. Despite a tough second quarter clip of 18.2 percent, Ole Miss still shot a season-high 43.4 percent from the field overall. Helping in that effort was a season-high 20 assists and a season-low 11 turnovers.

Three Rebels led the way in double-digit scoring, led by senior Crystal Allen with her third consecutive double-digit game to start her Ole Miss career with 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting (2-of-3 from beyond the arc).

The Rebel defense continued to shine, holding its third straight opponent this season to under 34 percent shooting and forcing 17 turnovers in the process that wound up as 15 Rebel points.

ALL-TIME VS. THE MAC
Ole Miss is looking to break above the .500 mark all-time against the MAC when Western Michigan comes to Oxford this Sunday, as the Rebels currently own a 3-3 record against MAC schools.

The Rebels own winning marks against Bowling Green (1-0), Eastern Michigan (1-0), and losing records to Central Michigan (1-2) and Toledo (0-1).

ROAD TO 100
First-year head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin may have just started her Ole Miss career, but she stands just four wins away from hitting the century mark for her career -- currently sitting at an overall mark of 96-64.

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!
It hasn't taken a lot of points for the Rebels to start off 2-1, as the Ole Miss defense has had some early success to help lead the way. Ole Miss ranks within the top-half of the SEC in three-point defense (.218, 4th), FG defense (.314, 5th), blocks (6.0/game, 5th), scoring defense (54.3, 6th) and turnover margin (+4.33, 8th).

Ole Miss has held all three opponents to under 70 points, and in both Rebel wins the defense has stymied opponents to 55 points or fewer. No Rebel opponent has been able to shoot better than 33.8 percent from the field overall, and none have been able to convert more than 25 percent of their three-point attempts.

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.

SHARING IS CARING
Ole Miss also ranks within the upper echelon of the SEC in assists, dishing out 16.0 dimes per game through the first three contests. Last time out vs. Temple, the Rebels tallied a season-high 20 assists beside a season-low 11 turnovers for a margin of +9 -- the best margin for the Rebels since Jan. 1, 2017 vs. Arkansas (+9). Wednesday night's +9 effort is just the fourth game in the last three seasons to have at least an advantage of nine.

Ole Miss has recorded at last 13 assists in each game, the first three-game stretch since doing so from Dec. 19-31 last season. 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
With nearly a brand-new roster, it's easy to assume that the Rebel newcomers would be statisically proficient. But the new transfers and freshman for Ole Miss have taken that to a new level, accounting for more than three-quarters of all Rebel scoring thus far a 78.8 percent.

Seniors Crystal Allen (53 points, 29.4 percent) and La'Karis Salter (26 points, 14.4 percent) have accounted for 43.9 percent of all Ole Miss scoring by themselves.

OLD-SCHOOL SHOOTING
Ole Miss stands at 2-1 on the season, but it has done so with a mysterious absence of three-pointers -- having sank just 10 on the season (3.3/game). Half of those came in the last game vs. Temple on Nov. 14, and half on the year have come from Crystal Allen alone (5-of-14, .357).

To counteract that, the Rebels have shot a strong .405 from the field overall on 70 field goals made -- 16 more than opponents at the moment, who are just shooting .314 overall and .218 from three.

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 three games into her Rebel career. Allen has scored at least 16 points in all three of her games as a Rebel thus far, giving her 53 points this year at an average of 17.7 PPG -- seventh-best in the SEC. She dropped 21 points in a loss vs. IUPUI on Nov. 9, which at the time registered as the sixth-best scoring output in the conference this season.

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.

NO REST FOR CRYSTAL
Crystal Allen hasn't seen much of the bench this season, currently ranking second in the SEC in minutes at 35.7 per game -- the most by a Rebel this year by nearly four minutes over starting point guard Mimi Reid's 31.0 minutes per game.

ALLEN NEARING 1,000 POINTS
Crystal Allen is getting close to becoming the 30th Rebel to ever surpass the 1,000-point mark for her career, currently sitting at 881. She scored 303 while at Seattle, 525 while at UT-Arlington, and she is already up to 53 points through three games as a Rebel.

SALTER HEATING UP OFFENSIVELY
Senior La'Karis Salter has been a steady force for the Rebels in rebounding, leading Ole Miss with 6.0 boards per game thus far, but it was this last Wednesday vs. Temple where her offensive talent began to shine. Salter dropped 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 from three and 3-of-4 from the free throw line, after only scoring a combined 12 points in her first two games vs. Norfolk State (8 points) and IUPUI (4 points).

CRAWFORD CLEARED
Freshman Gabby Crawford had just two hours advance notice that she was cleared and immediately eligible to play vs. Temple on Wednesday night, and the four-star recruit out of Munford, Tennessee, did not waste the opportunity. In just 15 minutes of action, Crawford put up six points, hauled three rebounds and blocked two shots.

Crawford was originally committed to Alabama before transferring to Ole Miss at the beginning of the semester.

CECI FROM...THREE?
Senior Cecilia Muhate may have found a new way to contribute offensively for the Rebels with a newfound ability to shoot the deep ball. In her three seasons prior, Muhate had never even attempted a three-pointer, but in the season-opener vs. Norfolk State, Muhate put up three attempts from beyond the arc. It wasn't until last Wednesday vs. Temple where Muhate connected, draining 2-of-3 from three-point land to give her 10 points -- her first double-digit scoring game since scoring 10 points vs. South Alabama on Dec. 9, 2017.

GET THAT OUTTA HERE!
Junior Jhileiya Dunlap has proven to be an effective jack-of-all-trades on the floor through three games as a Rebel, but she has specifically found a knack for swatting away shots. Through three games, Dunlap has notched nine of the 18 total blocks by Ole Miss -- putting her third in the SEC and sixth in the NCAA at the moment.

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 16 boards this season, putting her second on the roster at 5.3/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 1,151 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 fourth in the SEC at 5.0 assists per game.

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

The University of Mississippi Athletics