Rebels Host Louisiana for Friday Night Tilt

			OLE MISS (6-5, 0-0 SEC) vs. LOUISIANA (6-3, 0-0 Sun Belt) Friday, Dec. 20 • 7 p.m. • Oxford, Miss. The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500) Ole Miss Stocking Giveaway • Santa Comes to The Pavilion
Watch • Live Stats • Listen • Buy Tickets Ole Miss Game Notes (PDF) • Louisiana Game Notes (PDF) • SEC Game Notes

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss women's basketball hits the court for the final time before a small holiday break when it hosts Louisiana for a Friday night contest. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT inside The Pavilion and on SEC Network +.

PROMOTIONS
• Ole Miss stocking giveaway to the first 200 fans
• Pregame photos and halftime reading with Santa

TEAM FACTS

Ole Miss Rebels (6-5, 0-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Yolett McPhee-McCuin • 2nd Season at Ole Miss (15-27) • 109-90 career record (7th Season)

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (6-3, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Head Coach: Garry Brodhead • 8th Season at Louisiana (122-111) • 122-111 career record (8th season)

ON THE AIR

Television/Online: SEC Network +
Play-by-Play: Will Kollmeyer
Color: Lindsay Roy

OLE MISS RADIO

Radio: 105.1 FM
Audio: TuneIn
Play-by-Play: Graham Doty

SERIES NOTES vs. LOUISIANA

Series History
Ole Miss leads, 4-1

Current Streak
Ole Miss, 1

First Meeting
Dec. 1, 1989
• W, 75-69, in Oxford

Last Meeting
Dec. 12, 2018
• W, 79-57, in Oxford
• Kids Day crowd of 7,389 (#4 all-time)
• All five Rebel starters scored in double-digits for the first time since Nov. 17, 2016
• Crystal Allen led with 18 points
• Mimi Reid: 14 points, 11 assists (first career double-double)

*Louisiana has previously been known as both UL-Lafayette and Southwestern Louisiana

*Ole Miss and Louisiana also played on Feb. 8, 1974 in Oxford (W, 68-56), but it was before the official beginning of the Rebel women's basketball program at the onset of the 1974-75 season

SCOUTING LOUISIANA

Record
6-3, 0-0 Sun Belt

Last Game
L, 64-48, vs. Mississippi State
• Top Scorers: Kimberly Burton (10 points)
• Cut MSU lead to 46-40 with 7:00 to play; 11-0 MSU run in final three minutes decided the game
• Held MSU's No. 3 national scoring offense of 86.8 PPG to just 64
• Shot .314; yielded .410 to MSU

Notes
• RPI: 227
• Shooting .397 as a team; allowing .383
• Shooting .374 from three, holding opponents to just .290 from beyond the arc
• Ranks in the NCAA top-50 in: three-point percentage (25th, .374), free throw attempts (38th, 210), turnover margin (48th, 4.89), free throws made (50th, 140)

Players to Watch

#2 Brandi Williams
• 14.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, .438 FG, .545 3PT, .857 FT
• Last year vs. Ole Miss: 14 points

#35 Ty'Reona Doucet
• 12.0 PPG, 7.1 RPG, .543 FG
• Last year vs. Ole Miss: 20 points, 15 rebounds

TEAM NOTES

LAST TIME OUT (vs. Georgia Southern)
The Ole Miss women's basketball team fed off an energetic Kids Day crowd of 6,574 in a wild game against Georgia Southern on Dec. 16, with the Rebels prevailing in overtime, 69-66.

This is just the second overtime game in the last five years for the Rebels (6-5), who overcame a long scoring drought in the third quarter to force a competitive fourth frame. The Eagles (2-6) did not go quietly, though, erasing an eight-point Ole Miss lead in the final 3:12 of regulation – ultimately forcing overtime on a made layup with 25 seconds to play by GSU's Jaiden Hamilton for her only bucket of the contest.

The Rebels had a chance to put the game away on the next possession, but a turnover called with four seconds remaining handed the ball back to the Eagles. Despite having two attempts in those for seconds for the win, both shots fell outside the rim before the buzzer went off.

Ole Miss showed little patience in overtime, immediately jumping out to a 66-60 lead thanks to an opening layup by Valerie Nesbitt before Mimi Reid notched four of her seven points on a layup of her own and two free throws. Georgia Southern would cut the lead to three with 14 seconds left after back-to-back layups by Nikki McDonald (26 points, nine rebounds), but it would be as close as the Eagles would get as the Rebels hung on for the win.

"I'm glad we found out a way to get a victory," said Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin. "This is a tough time to coach, with it being the holiday season and with the young group that we have. I thought that we handled adversity well. Right now for me, with this group, it's about finding wins, and we had a couple today."

A significant factor in the Rebel win was a second-half resilience led by junior Valerie Nesbitt. Ole Miss bounced back from a 37-percent shooting effort in the first half to drain 50 percent of its shots in the second half. Furthermore, the Rebels failed to let a 6:47 scoring drought in the third quarter derail the game, buckling down on defense to keep the Eagles at bay before setting up the wild fourth quarter.

"I thought that we responded in the right way," McPhee-McCuin said. "There was never a moment for me where I felt like we wouldn't win this game. It was just a peace that I felt as we competed for 45 minutes."

Nesbitt led that charge, scoring 11 of her 16 points in the second half and overtime. In her last five games, she has averaged 14.8 points overall and 9.6 points in the second half alone, but her success on Monday wasn't solely on her shoulders, as she also chipped in six assists as one of two Rebels with at least five alongside Mimi Reid (seven points, five assists, three rebounds).

"Val really wants to win. Val is a competitor," McPhee-McCuin said. "We're teaching her how to be competitive about the right things. Through the course of it, you're just seeing her evolve into the type of player that she could potentially be. The last game, she had eight turnovers because she was really trying to win it for everybody. I told her that her intent was good, but what she did didn't work for us. So now, she has six assists, one turnover, because she realizes that she doesn't have to do it herself and that she needs the team."

Senior Torri Lewis also had a big day, helping the Rebels to their best three-point shooting effort of the season with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Freshman Jayla Alexander chipped in 11 points and five rebounds with a 2-of-3 clip from distance as well, but it was junior Dominique Banks who proved invaluable on defense.

Banks served up several timely blocks, ending with eight rejections to go along with her eight points and six rebounds – the second-most blocks in a single game in Ole Miss history and the second-most by any player in the SEC this season.

"Dominique is a big help for us," Nesbitt said. "We aren't scared to get beat on defense, we know she's got our backs. We just do what we need to do on the ball, and we just know she's there."

The win on Monday pushed Ole Miss to 17-0 on Kids Day games, and the crowd of 6,574 stands as the seventh-best crowd in Rebel women's basketball history.

SUCCESS AGAINST THE SUN BELT
Ole Miss has a dominant all-time record against current Sun Belt schools, holding a 46-12 record. The Rebels only have a losing record against New Mexico State (0-1), while holding winning records against Arkansas State (8-3), Appalachian State (2-0), Georgia State (1-0), Georgia Southern (2-0), Louisiana (4-1), ULM (15-2), South Alabama (4-2), Troy (2-1), UT Arlington (3-1) and UALR (5-1).

DEADLY FROM DISTANCE
Ole Miss has found a sweet spot lately from beyond the arc, jumping up to sixth in the SEC in three-point shooting at a season percentage of 31.5. After going 9-of-41 (.220) over a three-game stretch from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4, the Rebels have ripped off a 14-of-37 (.378) clip in the last two games, led by a season-best 8-of-19 (.421) outing against Georgia Southern on Dec. 16.

OFF THE LINE
Ole Miss has proved difficult to damage from distance, holding opponents to five or fewer three-pointers in nine of 11 games this season. Just one Rebel opponent has shot better than 33 percent from distance, with Pitt shooting 41.2 on Nov. 30. In the Coach Yo era, three-point defense has been a point of emphasis, holding opponents to five threes or fewer in 26 of 42 games in her two seasons. Last season, Ole Miss held 17 opponents to 30 percent or less from three, including 12 that shot 25 percent or worse and four that haven't been able to break 20 percent. The year before, Ole Miss held opponents under 30 percent just 10 times all season.

STEAL YO BALL
The Rebel defense have been masters of theft, recording 13 steals vs. Louisiana Tech and 15 against Sam Houston State. Those two games mark the first consecutive games of at least 13 steals since notching 13 against Austin Peay on Dec. 20, 2016 and 24 vs. Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 28, 2016.

VARIETY IN THE STARTING LINEUP
Ole Miss has used eight different starting lineups in its first 11 games of the 2019-20 season. In Coach Yo's first season with the Rebels, Ole Miss used 17 different starting lineups through 31 total games played.

OPTIONS IN THE SCORING COLUMN
Versatility has been the name of the game on offense, as five different Rebels have led Ole Miss in scoring this season after having just four unique top scorers throughout the entire 2018-19 season. Juniors Deja Cage and Valerie Nesbitt, as well as sophomore Taylor Smith, are the lone Rebels to have repeated, with Nesbitt doing so four times, Cage three times and Smith twice. Other top Rebel scorers include freshman Jayla Alexander vs. UNO (21) and junior Dominique Banks at Southern Miss (13).

BENCH COMING THROUGH
The Rebel bench has been active in the scoring department, out-scoring opponents in nine of 11 games thus far for a season total of 256-149.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

BANKS WITH THE REJECTION
Junior Dominique Banks is on pace for a historical season defensively. At her current average of 3.0 blocks per game, she is on pace to break the single-season Ole Miss record with 87 rejections by the end of the regular season. Banks is currently the NCAA's 11th-best in blocks per game and No. 6 overall in total blocks (33).

1. Promise Taylor - 82 ('17-18, 31 games)
2. Shawn Goff - 67 ('07-08, 29 games)
3. Shawn Goff - 60 ('08-09, 30 games)
4. Susan Byrd - 60 ('93-94, 33 games)
5. Susan Byrd - 59 ('92-93, 28 games)

Furthermore, her eight blocks against Georgia Southern on Dec. 16 stand as the second-most in a game at Ole Miss, as well as the fifth-most in the NCAA this season.

DOM ON THE BLOCK
Junior Dominique Banks has been a force to reckon with on the block, averaging 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks to go along with her 7.5 points per game average. Banks recently recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds vs. Alcorn State, the most boards by a Rebel since Bretta Hart hauled in 18 against Western Kentucky on Dec. 2, 2015.

Banks has started three games for the Rebels at the five position, and she currently ranks second in the SEC with her 3.0 blocks per game and 10th at 7.5 rebounds.

NESBITT STRONG IN SECOND HALF
Junior Valerie Nesbitt has risen as one of the top scoring threats for Ole Miss, but her prowess in the second half has been remarkable as well. Nesbitt has scored at least 12 points in six of her last seven games, averaging 14.9 points per game in that stretch. In her last five games alone, though, Nesbitt is averaging 14.8 points overall and 9.6 points per game in the second half alone. Nesbitt averaged 17.0 points in two games at the Daytona Beach Invitational against Alcorn State and Pitt, with an impressive 13.5 points in the second half of those two games. On the season, Nesbitt is averaging 12.0 points overall and 7.4 points in the second half.

NESBITT STUFFS THE STAT SHEET
Junior Valerie Nesbitt has been a force of nature on every side of the ball this season, averaging 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 3.4 assists. Stealing the ball has been her bread and butter, though, currently leading the SEC and ranking 17th in the NCAA at her 3.3 steals per game average. Nesbitt had an all-around superb game against Louisiana Tech on Nov. 23, recording an incredible line of 12 points, eight assists, eight steals and six rebounds. Her eight steals rank as the most by any player in the SEC this season, as well as tied for No. 4 on the Ole Miss single-game list. Additionally, it is the first game in available records at Ole Miss in which a Rebel has recorded at least eight assists and eight steals in the same game. She is also one of just three in the NCAA this season to have recorded such a game alongside Norfolk State's Chanette Hicks (20 points, 14 assists, 11 steals vs. Virginia-Lynchburg, Nov. 14) and Texas Southern's Ciani Cryor (20 points, 9 assists, 8 steals vs. Rice, Dec. 7).

NESBITT ON PACE
Junior Valerie Nesbitt's propensity to steal the ball has put her into an elite class of Rebel defenders. At her average of 3.3 steals per game, Nesbitt is on pace to finish the regular season with 95 steals, which would rank tied for fifth on the Ole Miss single-season list.

1. Carol Ross - 135 ('79-80, 37 games)
2. Armintie Price - 131 ('06-07, 35 games)
3. Armintie Price - 104 ('05-06, 31 games)
4. Glenda Springfield - 98 ('78-79, 39 games)
5. Alisa Scott - 95 ('84-85, 32 games)

AIR IT OUT, TORRI!
Senior three-point specialist Torri Lewis picked up right where she left off two years ago, draining 3-of-5 from beyond the arc for 11 total points against MVSU to start the season before striking gold again with a 4-of-6 line against Georgia Southern on Dec. 16. Lewis, who returned for her redshirt senior season at Ole Miss after sitting out last year due to the birth of her son, A.J., is a career 34.5 percent three-point shooter. In her career, 85.7 percent of all of her field goals have come from three-point distance.

In her career, Lewis owns 28 games with multiple threes -- hitting seven or more threes in a game twice. She knocked down a school-record 10 in a game vs. New Orleans as a freshman in 2015 (the third-most in a single-game in NCAA history), and during her junior year, she nailed seven against Alabama.

During that junior season, Lewis was on fire from downtown in the final month of the season, going 16-of-32 in a stretch from deep from Feb. 1-11. That season, 90 percent of her made field goals were three-pointers and 131 of her 150 attempts were from beyond the arc (87.3 percent).

CLUTCH FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
Freshman and Pearl, Mississippi native Jayla Alexander has been money from the free throw line, currently ranking second in the SEC and 19th in the NCAA in free throw shooting at 90.3 percent.

Alexander has been a key reserve off the bench, scoring all 101 of her points off the bench -- including 52 points in a four-game stretch from Nov. 15 to Nov. 26. Alexander went off against New Orleans, more than doubling her previous career high of 10 points with a 21-point outing against the Privateers. She followed that up with an 11-point performance at Southern Miss and a 13-point outing against Sam Houston State.

Alexander, the No. 1 rated recruit out of the state of Mississippi last year, has played at least 18 minutes in each game this season. Helping her against UNO was a 5-of-8 clip from beyond the arc.

OH MY, SHE'S ON FIRE!
Junior Deja Cage has been a dynamic scorer for the Rebels, recording seven different double-digit game through 11 contests this season and standing as the top Ole Miss scorer in three contests. Her 12.9 points per game ranks 20th in the SEC. Cage has also been one of the most consistent three-point shooters in the league, ranking sixth in threes per game (2.0).

Cage lit the net on fire with a career-high 30-point performance on 10-of-18 shooting and 5-of-8 three-point shooting against Louisiana Tech, one of just seven 30-point games in the SEC this season. She is one of just four Rebels in the last five years to have recorded a 30-point game.

MIMI DIRECTING TRAFFIC
Sophomore guard Mimi Reid returned to her role as the floor general for the Rebels, notching six assists against MVSU and New Orleans -- the 11th and 12th times in her young career she has recorded at least six in a game. Reid was unflappable in this role as a redshirt freshman in 2018-19, spearheading what was an efficient Rebel offensive attack. She was the only player in the SEC last year with separate games of 11+ assists (vs. Louisiana) and 11+ rebounds (vs. Western Michigan), and she led all SEC freshmen with 4.3 assists per game (sixth overall). Reid was also the most efficient shooter for the Rebels last season, knocking down a team-high 40.2 percent of her field goal tries.

COOKING WITH KITCHENS
Sophomore Iyanla Kitchens blossomed in a big way against ULM, recording her first double-double with career highs in points (10) and rebounds (10). Kitchens, who averaged 6.2 minutes per game her freshman season, is currently averaging 4.9 points and 4.2 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game through 11 games played in 2019-20.

SMITH IN SPOTLIGHT AS SOPHOMORE
Sophomore Taylor Smith emerged as a potent scoring threat for the Rebels after a career day against Mississippi Valley State. Smith, who entered this season with a career-high of nine points scored against Florida last season, doubled that with a demonstrative 18-point performance on 9-of-17 shooting. Smith started off a perfect 4-of-4 from the field thanks to a deadly mid-range jumper.

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

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Players Mentioned

Jayla Alexander

Crystal Allen

Dominique Banks

Deja Cage

Iyanla Kitchens

Torri Lewis

Mimi Reid

Taylor Smith

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