Rebels Host No. 1 South Carolina for Powder Blue Out on Thursday

			OLE MISS (7-13, 0-7 SEC) vs. #1 SOUTH CAROLINA (19-1, 7-0 SEC) Thursday, Jan. 30 • 7 p.m. • Oxford, Miss. The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500) Powder Blue Out
Watch • Live Stats • Listen • Buy Tickets Ole Miss Game Notes (PDF) • South Carolina Game Notes • SEC Game Notes

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss women's basketball will play host to the No. 1 team in the nation when South Carolina comes to town for a Powder Blue Out in The Pavilion on Thursday night. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT in The Pavilion and on SEC Network +.

PROMOTIONS
• Powder Blue Out

TEAM FACTS

Ole Miss Rebels (7-13, 0-7 SEC)
Head Coach: Yolett McPhee-McCuin • 2nd Season at Ole Miss (16-35) • 110-98 career record (7th Season)

#1 South Carolina Gamecocks (19-1, 7-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Dawn Staley • 12th Season at South Carolina (292-98) • 464-178 career record (20th season)

ON THE AIR

Television/Online: SEC Network +
Play-by-Play: Seth Austin
Color: Lindsay Roy

OLE MISS RADIO

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

SERIES AT A GLANCE
At Oxford: Tied 8-8
At Columbia: South Carolina leads 13-4
At Neutral Sites: Ole Miss leads 5-2
Longest UM Streak: 5 (1992-95)
Longest USC Streak: 11 (2011-Present)
Biggest UM Win: 33 (2/5/95 - at Oxford)
Biggest USC Win: 34 (02/07/19 - at Columbia)
Most UM Points: 91 (2/4/95 - at Oxford)
Most USC Points: 99 (1/30/14 - at Columbia)
Last 10 Meetings: USC leads 10-0

SERIES NOTES vs. SOUTH CAROLINA

Series History
South Carolina leads, 23-17

Current Streak
South Carolina, 11

First Meeting
Nov. 25, 1978
• W, 84-76, in Cookeville, Tenn.
• Part of Tennessee Tech Invitational

First SEC Meeting
Jan. 25, 1992
• W, 69-67, at Columbia
• One of just four Rebel wins at South Carolina

Last Meeting
Feb. 7, 2019
• L, 76-42, in Columbia

Last Time in Oxford
Jan. 4, 2018
• L, 88-62

Last Win
March 4, 2010
• W, 64-63, in Duluth, Georgia
• First Round of SEC Tournament

Last Win in Oxford
Jan. 20, 2008
• W, 74-61
• Five Rebels in double-digits
• Shawn Goff: 14 points, 11 rebounds

Last Win in Columbia
Feb. 8, 2009
• W, 66-65
• Elizabeth Robertson (13 points, 7 rebounds) hit a game-winning layup with 0.6 seconds remaining
• Ole Miss lead 60-53 with three minutes left; trailed 65-64 after two Gamecock free throws with 11 seconds remaining.

SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA

Record
19-1, 7-0 SEC

National Rankings
AP Ranking: 1
Coaches Ranking: 2

Last Game
W, 88-53, at Georgia
• Five in double-digits: Aliyah Boston (15), Destanni Henderson (14), Tyasha Harris (13), LeLe Grissett (11), Mikiah Herbert Harrigan (10)
• Out-shot UGA, 60.3 percent to 32.4
• Only shot 2-of-3 from beyond the arc
• 21 points off turnovers
• Out-scored UGA 50-22 in points in paint
• Tyasha Harris: become South Carolina's all-time leader in assists (617)

Notes
• RPI: 1
• Owns five wins against ranked opponents: No. 4 Maryland (Nov. 10, 63-54), No. 2 Baylor (Nov. 30, 74-59), No. 21 South Dakota (Dec. 22, 73-60), No. 13 Kentucky (Jan. 2, 99-72), No. 21 Arkansas (Jan. 9, 91-82)
• Only loss to No. 17 Indiana in the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam on Nov. 28 (71-57)
• No. 15 NCAA strength of schedule
• Shooting .470, allowing .332
• Shooting .367 from three, allowing .302
• Rebounding Margin: +12.9
• Scoring Margin: +26.3 PPG
• Leads the NCAA in: total blocks (166) and blocks per game
• Ranks in the NCAA top-50 in: offensive rebounds per game (2nd, 17.2), total rebounds (3rd, 951), rebounds per game (3rd, 47.6), scoring margin (3rd, +26.3), field goal defense (4th, .332), free throw attempts (4th, 464), free throws made (4th, 319), rebounding margin (4th, +12.9), scoring offense (5th, 83.8 PPG), defensive rebounds per game (10th, 30.4), field goal percentage (12th, .470), three-point percentage (23rd, .367), total assists (33rd, 324), assists per game (36th, 16.2), assist/turnover ratio (38th, 1.13), scoring defense (42nd, 57.6 PPG), total steals (45th, 193)
• Also leads SEC in scoring margin (+26.3 PPG), offensive rebounds (17.2/game)
• Scoring 89.0 PPG in SEC play (leads SEC)
• Winning SEC games by a margin of 22.4 points (leads SEC)
• Also leads in SEC-only play in: shooting (.488), rebounding (47.6/game), rebounding margin (+15.7)
• Five players with 20+ steals

SOUTH CAROLINA PLAYERS TO WATCH

#4 Aliyah Boston
• 13.5 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 2.8 BPG, 1.3 APG, 1.3 SPG
• .615 FG, .780 FT
• Only freshman, one of 17 nationally to record a triple-double in 2019-20. Did so in her career opener vs. Alabama State on Nov. 5 (12 points, 12 rebounds, 10 blocks)
• Ranks in NCAA top-50 in: triple-doubles (3rd, 1), field goal percentage (8th, .615), total blocks (11th, 55), blocks per game (15th, 2.8), offensive rebounds per game (30th, 3.9), double-doubles (35th, 8) and total rebounds (50th, 178)
• 2nd SEC in shooting (.615)
• 2nd SEC in blocks (2.8)
• 5th SEC in rebounding (8.9/game)

#21 Mikiah Herbert Harrigan
• 12.7 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.7 BPG
• .518 FG, .500 3PT, .759 FT

#52 Tyasha Harris
• 12.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 5.2 APG, 1.6 SPG
• .427 FG, .393 3PT, 898 FT
• Leads SEC in assists (5.2/game)
• Ranks in NCAA top-50 in: total assists (21st, 104), assist/turnover ratio (24th, 2.42) and assists per game (30th, 5.2)
• All-time career leader in assists at South Carolina (617)

LAST TIME OUT (at MISSISSIPPI STATE)
No. 9 Mississippi State jumped out to an 11-0 lead to start the game and never looked back as the Ole Miss women's basketball team fell to the Bulldogs, 80-39, at Humphrey Coliseum on Jan. 26.

MSU (18-3, 6-1 SEC) was in control from start to finish, shooting 47.7 percent overall and 41.2 percent from beyond the arc and converting 27 points on 23 Rebel turnovers. Ole Miss was able to somewhat slow down the Bulldog offense in the later quarters, but were never able to claw back from a 30-6 hole in the first frame.

"Credit to Mississippi State," said Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin. "I thought they played a complete game. Obviously, we really started off super slow, 30 points in the first quarter is not something that we want to have. Luckily, we were able to get it down to a somewhat more manageable number for the next three quarters but the damage was already done. We are just going to continue to work."

The Rebels (7-13, 0-7 SEC) received two double-digit outings from Deja Cage (11 points, two rebounds, two assists, one block, one steal) and Jayla Alexander (10 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals), as well as solid games from Mimi Reid (six points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal) and Dominique Banks (five points, seven rebounds, one block).

The Bulldogs were paced by Jessika Carter, who poured in 24 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes played on a 10-of-14 line from the field. MSU also received double-digit performances from Rickea Jackson (12 points, three rebounds, two assists) and Aliyah Matharu (11 points one rebound, one steal).

TEAM NOTES

NO. 1 COMES TO TOWN
When South Carolina comes to Oxford this Thursday, it will be the first women's or men's No. 1 team to visit The Pavilion at Ole Miss since its opening in January of 2016. Overall, Thursday's game will be the first featuring the nation's No. 1 team in Oxford since South Carolina itself did so on Feb. 1, 2015, when the Gamecocks won, 77-59, in Tad Smith Coliseum.

No. 1 Women's Teams in Oxford
Jan. 28, 1977 - vs. Delta State (W, 73-72)
Jan. 28, 1978 - vs. LSU (L, 84-77)
Feb. 17, 1989 - vs. Auburn (L, 71-63)
Feb. 16, 1994 - vs. Tennessee (L, 70-60)
Feb. 7, 1996 - vs. Georgia (L, 90-85)
Feb. 4, 1998 - vs. Tennessee (L, 91-45)
Feb. 3, 2005 - vs. LSU (L, 82-58)
Feb. 1, 2015 - vs. S. Carolina (L, 77-59)

OLE MISS VS. AP TOP-10
In its storied history, Ole Miss owns 29 wins against AP Top-10 schools, 17 of which have been against SEC schools and 14 of which have come during the SEC regular season. Of those 29 wins, 14 have come while the Rebels have not been ranked themselves, which includes the last six wins vs. AP Top-10 teams. The most recent victory came at home over No. 9 Kentucky on Jan. 21, 2016 (73-65). Ole Miss owns one win ever against the No. 1 team in the nation against No. 1 Delta State on Jan. 28, 1977 (73-72).

DAUNTING SCHEDULE AHEAD
Ole Miss not only faces the yearly gauntlet of SEC season now, but it also is going up against a slate of some of the naton's best squads. A total of 10 of the SEC's 14 teams currently reside in the NCAA RPI top-100.

Ole Miss holds the nation's 21st-toughest future schedule according the the NCAA's strength of schedule rankings.

VARIETY IN THE STARTING LINEUP
Ole Miss has used 16 different starting lineups in 20 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.

OFF THE LINE
Ole Miss has proved difficult to damage from distance, ranking fifth in the SEC at an opposing three-point percentage of 28.2 while holding opponents to five or fewer three-pointers in 15 of 20 games this season.

Just four Rebel opponents have shot better than 33 percent from distance. The Rebel defense held Louisiana to a season-low 1-of-10 clip from the three-point line, the third time in the last two seasons that Ole Miss has held an opposing team to one three-point field goal.

In the Coach Yo era, three-point defense has been a point of emphasis, holding opponents to five threes or fewer in 32 of 51 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.

FIRST HALF SUCCESS = WINS
Ole Miss has found its way into the win column more times than not when having a strong first half effort. The Rebels are 7-1 when leading at the break, with their lone loss coming against Georgia after holding a 28-27 halftime lead. Likewise, Ole Miss is 0-12 when trailing at halftime.

PUT IT ON THE BOARD!
The Rebels are currently undefeated when eclipsing the 70-point threshold this season, standing at 5-0 in such games. The Rebels won three in a row while breaking 70 points from Nov. 23-29 in wins against Louisiana Tech (76-53), Sam Houston State (75-69) and Alcorn State (73-55) with an average win margin of +15.7 in those games. Ole Miss scored a season-high 93 points in the non-conference closer vs. Alabama State, the most by a Rebel team since 2017.

OFF THE GLASS
When the Rebels work the glass effectively it has worked out in the end, as Ole Miss stands at 5-1 when tying or out-rebounding opponents this season. On the year, Ole Miss has had two games with a rebounding margin of +20 against ULM (43-23) and Alcorn State (52-32).

BENCH COMING THROUGH
The Rebel bench has been active in the scoring department, out-scoring opponents 381-319.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION VS. ALABAMA ST.
The Rebels put together an impressive offensive performance against Alabama State on Dec. 28, with their 93 points standing as the most by an Ole Miss team since notching 96 against Troy on Nov. 21, 2017. That was just the beginning of the notes for the Rebels, who scored a season-high quarter total twice with 31 in the third and 29 in the fourth, while also recording a season-high 12 three-pointers and 24 assists -- the most by an Ole Miss team in both categories since Dec. 28, 2018 vs. North Florida.

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
Ole Miss had six double-digit scorers in the big 93-66 win over Alabama State on Dec. 28, the most since seven Rebels eclipsed double digits against Winston-Salem State more than 10 years ago on Dec. 20, 2009 (W, 101-46). Since that game in 2009, Ole Miss has recorded at least five double-digit scorers in 10 games, and have only done so in consecutive games once in back-to-back outings against Mississippi State on Jan. 21, 2010 (W, 66-58) and at No. 8 Georgia on Jan. 24, 2010 (W, 66-65). Ole Miss is 9-1 in those games in that span, with the only loss coming at No. 9 Baylor on Dec. 18, 2013 (L, 87-80).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

OH MY, SHE'S ON FIRE!
Junior Deja Cage has been a dynamic scorer for the Rebels, recording 14 different double-digit games and five 20-point games through 20 contests this season. Cage has also been one of the most consistent three-point shooters in the league, ranking fourth in threes per game (2.3).

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. She is one of just four Rebels in the last five years to have recorded a 30-point game.

BIG MINUTES FOR ALEXANDER
Freshman and Pearl, Mississippi native Jayla Alexander has been a key member on the floor for the Rebels in SEC play, currently leading the conference in minutes played during SEC season with 36.0 per game.

Alexander has become a staple in the starting lineup for Ole Miss, starting each of the last nine games dating back to Dec. 20 after serving as a crucial reserve off the bench in her first 11 games as a Rebel. In that stretch, Alexander scored 101 points off the bench -- including 52 points in a four-game stretch from Nov. 15 to Nov. 26. Alexander went off against New Orleans with a 21-point outing against the Privateers on a 5-of-8 clip from beyond the arc. On the year, she has recorded eight double-digit games, including a 16-point outing against Missouri on Jan. 19.

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, currently ranking second among SEC freshman at 30.5/game.

TWO NEW FACES
Ole Miss welcomed two new faces to the team prior to tipoff vs. Missouri on Jan. 19 in the form of freshman early enrollee Caitlin McGee and former student manager Tootie Rankin.

McGee – a 6-1 forward out of Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville, Florida – graduated early this past December. McGee made the decision to enroll early to help prepare for her freshman season. She will sit out as a redshirt for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. A three-star recruit by ESPN as part of a 2020 Ole Miss class that ranks No. 1 in the SEC, McGee was a varsity letterwinner in both basketball and track & field while at Sandalwood. In her three-year career, she averaged 18.0 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. She is a three-time all-conference selection, a three-time first-team All-Area and All-City member, and was named to both the 2018-19 First-Team All-State and Times Union All-Decade teams.

Rankin, meanwhile, joins the active Rebel roster after serving as a student manager for the 2019-20 season. Rankin transferred to Ole Miss after two seasons at Southwest Mississippi Community College, where she played in 48 total games. Rankin saw her first action on Jan. 19 vs. Missouri, playing 17 minutes while recording two points and three rebounds, and earned her first start at Auburn (22 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds).

A biochemistry major, Rankin excelled at SWMCC, earning a 4.0 in her two years there. While there, she also was a member of Bear Trackers, Student Government Association, Phi Theta Kappa, Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and volunteered her time to become a Chemistry tutor in the Student Success Center. She was awarded the Lyceum Scholar Award from Ole Miss, given to 15 transfer students from across the country who must be excellent leaders who excel both in and out of the classroom

BANKS WITH THE REJECTION
Junior Dominique Banks is on pace for a historical season defensively. At her average of 2.4 blocks per game, she is on pace to rank on the Ole Miss single-season record in blocks with 68. Banks is currently the NCAA's 23rd-best in blocks per game and No. 18 overall in total blocks (47).

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.

AIR IT OUT, TORRI!
Senior three-point specialist Torri Lewis has picked up right where she left off two years ago, returning for the Rebels as a key weapon from deep. 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 33.3 percent three-point shooter. In her career, 86.3 percent of all of her field goals have come from three-point distance.

Lewis shot a combined 11-of-28 (.393) from three-point distance in three games from Dec. 16-28, knocking down at least three treys in each game and hitting four twice against Georgia Southern on Dec. 16 and Alabama State on Dec. 28.

In her career, Lewis owns 30 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).

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

Dominique Banks

Deja Cage

Torri Lewis

Caitlin McGee

Tootie Rankin

Mimi Reid

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