The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Women’s Basketball to Face Samford in WNIT Opening Round
3/15/2021 | Women's Basketball
First Postseason Appearance for Rebels Since 2016-17
OXFORD, Miss. – The season is not over quite yet for the Ole Miss women's basketball team, who will face off against Samford (14-9) in the First Round of the 2021 Postseason WNIT on Friday at 5 p.m. CT. The Rebels were selected to the Memphis Regional (with games to be played at Collierville High School) as one of 23 at-large teams to the reduced-size 32-team tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the 25th total postseason appearance for Ole Miss women's basketball and eighth WNIT berth for the Rebels, the first since the 2016-17 season. All-time, the Rebels hold a 4-7 record in the WNIT, advancing as far as the Third Round twice in 2005-06 and 2014-15.
Ole Miss is coming off an exciting 11-11 campaign under third-year head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, who put the SEC on notice with an exhilarating 2020-21 season. Built around the SEC's top-ranked recruiting class and ESPN's No. 1 rated transfer in Shakira Austin, the Rebels consistently shocked the basketball world, notching three ranked victories, four NET top-50 wins, several other narrow ranked losses and a run to the SEC quarterfinal for the first time since 2010. In the SEC Tournament, Ole Miss recorded its highest ranked win of the year over No. 13 Arkansas in the Second Round (69-60) – which had beat No. 1 UConn earlier this season – and narrowly missed out on beating No. 14 Tennessee in the quarterfinal, falling 77-72 in a spectacular back-and-forth affair.
Austin was the standard-bearer for Ole Miss all season long, ending as the first Rebel to earn First-Team All-SEC since 2014-15 and as a member of the Lisa Leslie Award Top-10 list in February. She ended the regular season as the only player in the SEC to finish ranked in the top-15 in field goal percentage (.521), points (18.2), blocks (1.6), rebounds (8.8), steals (1.7) and free throw shooting (.738). Throughout the season she recorded 21 games in double-digit scoring, 10 games with 20 points or more, and 10 double-doubles, including five in a row to become the first Rebel to notch five straight in SEC games since 2007 (7, Armintie Price).
Madison Scott, the program's first McDonald's All-American, came away as SEC Freshman of the Year, the first for Ole Miss since All-American Armintie Price won in 2003-04. Combined with Snudda Collins' appearance on the All-Freshman team alongside Scott, the three Rebel all-conference honorees stand as the most for an Ole Miss squad since 1992.
Ole Miss ended with a NET of 42, a 4-8 record against the NET Top-50 and a 3-6 record against ranked teams. Over their last eight games, the Rebels were 4-4 against an average NET of 16.8 (only two games at home), and over a brutal stretch of their last five games Ole Miss was 2-3 vs. an average NET of 13.4 (only one game at home).
The Postseason WNIT – run by Triple Crown Sports – has been run since 1998 and has been a full 64-team postseason tournament with games played at host sites since 2006. However, due to the pandemic, the tournament field was halved and instead of home sites, the WNIT moved to a NCAA-like regional model, with the four regions being: Charlotte, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Rockford, Illinois. The WNIT semifinal and championship rounds will be held at the final site of Memphis at Collierville High School, and games from all rounds will air live on the subscription service FloHoops.
This year, each team will have a two-game guarantee, with a consolation final in each region before finalizing the regional champions. The 2021 tournament features four teams from the Atlantic 10 and three teams each from the Big East, Missouri Valley and SEC. Five conferences placed two each — American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Pac-12. Other conferences represented include the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Colonial, West Coast, Horizon, Ohio Valley, Southern, Sun Belt and Western Athletic.
2021 WNIT Schedule • Memphis Regional (Collierville High School)
First Round (March 19, Collierville HS): vs. Samford (14-9), 5 p.m. CT
Second Round (Collierville HS): March 20, 8 p.m. CT
Third Round (Collierville HS): March 22, 7 p.m. CT
Semifinal (Collierville HS): March 26, 7 p.m. CT
WNIT Title Game (Collierville HS): March 28, 1 p.m. CT
Consolation Game 1: March 20, 2 p.m. CT (if necessary)
Consolation Game 2: March 22, 4 p.m. CT (if necessary)
Ole Miss WNIT History (4-7)
1998-99
First Round: at UT Martin (L, 77-66)
2000-01
First Round: at Western Kentucky (L, 95-92)
2005-06
First Round: Bye
Second Round: at Kansas (W, 78-76)
Third Round: at Pittsburgh (L, 85-76)
2008-09
Second Round: vs. Murray State (W, 87-49)
Third Round: at South Florida (L, 74-57)
2009-10
First Round: at Samford (L, 66-65)
2014-15
First Round: vs. UT Martin (W, 80-70)
Second Round: vs. Georgia Tech (W, 63-48)
Third Round: at Middle Tennessee (L, 82-70)
2016-17
First Round: vs. Grambling (L, 78-75)
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
This is the 25th total postseason appearance for Ole Miss women's basketball and eighth WNIT berth for the Rebels, the first since the 2016-17 season. All-time, the Rebels hold a 4-7 record in the WNIT, advancing as far as the Third Round twice in 2005-06 and 2014-15.
Ole Miss is coming off an exciting 11-11 campaign under third-year head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, who put the SEC on notice with an exhilarating 2020-21 season. Built around the SEC's top-ranked recruiting class and ESPN's No. 1 rated transfer in Shakira Austin, the Rebels consistently shocked the basketball world, notching three ranked victories, four NET top-50 wins, several other narrow ranked losses and a run to the SEC quarterfinal for the first time since 2010. In the SEC Tournament, Ole Miss recorded its highest ranked win of the year over No. 13 Arkansas in the Second Round (69-60) – which had beat No. 1 UConn earlier this season – and narrowly missed out on beating No. 14 Tennessee in the quarterfinal, falling 77-72 in a spectacular back-and-forth affair.
Austin was the standard-bearer for Ole Miss all season long, ending as the first Rebel to earn First-Team All-SEC since 2014-15 and as a member of the Lisa Leslie Award Top-10 list in February. She ended the regular season as the only player in the SEC to finish ranked in the top-15 in field goal percentage (.521), points (18.2), blocks (1.6), rebounds (8.8), steals (1.7) and free throw shooting (.738). Throughout the season she recorded 21 games in double-digit scoring, 10 games with 20 points or more, and 10 double-doubles, including five in a row to become the first Rebel to notch five straight in SEC games since 2007 (7, Armintie Price).
Madison Scott, the program's first McDonald's All-American, came away as SEC Freshman of the Year, the first for Ole Miss since All-American Armintie Price won in 2003-04. Combined with Snudda Collins' appearance on the All-Freshman team alongside Scott, the three Rebel all-conference honorees stand as the most for an Ole Miss squad since 1992.
Ole Miss ended with a NET of 42, a 4-8 record against the NET Top-50 and a 3-6 record against ranked teams. Over their last eight games, the Rebels were 4-4 against an average NET of 16.8 (only two games at home), and over a brutal stretch of their last five games Ole Miss was 2-3 vs. an average NET of 13.4 (only one game at home).
The Postseason WNIT – run by Triple Crown Sports – has been run since 1998 and has been a full 64-team postseason tournament with games played at host sites since 2006. However, due to the pandemic, the tournament field was halved and instead of home sites, the WNIT moved to a NCAA-like regional model, with the four regions being: Charlotte, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Rockford, Illinois. The WNIT semifinal and championship rounds will be held at the final site of Memphis at Collierville High School, and games from all rounds will air live on the subscription service FloHoops.
This year, each team will have a two-game guarantee, with a consolation final in each region before finalizing the regional champions. The 2021 tournament features four teams from the Atlantic 10 and three teams each from the Big East, Missouri Valley and SEC. Five conferences placed two each — American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Pac-12. Other conferences represented include the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Colonial, West Coast, Horizon, Ohio Valley, Southern, Sun Belt and Western Athletic.
2021 WNIT Schedule • Memphis Regional (Collierville High School)
First Round (March 19, Collierville HS): vs. Samford (14-9), 5 p.m. CT
Second Round (Collierville HS): March 20, 8 p.m. CT
Third Round (Collierville HS): March 22, 7 p.m. CT
Semifinal (Collierville HS): March 26, 7 p.m. CT
WNIT Title Game (Collierville HS): March 28, 1 p.m. CT
Consolation Game 1: March 20, 2 p.m. CT (if necessary)
Consolation Game 2: March 22, 4 p.m. CT (if necessary)
Ole Miss WNIT History (4-7)
1998-99
First Round: at UT Martin (L, 77-66)
2000-01
First Round: at Western Kentucky (L, 95-92)
2005-06
First Round: Bye
Second Round: at Kansas (W, 78-76)
Third Round: at Pittsburgh (L, 85-76)
2008-09
Second Round: vs. Murray State (W, 87-49)
Third Round: at South Florida (L, 74-57)
2009-10
First Round: at Samford (L, 66-65)
2014-15
First Round: vs. UT Martin (W, 80-70)
Second Round: vs. Georgia Tech (W, 63-48)
Third Round: at Middle Tennessee (L, 82-70)
2016-17
First Round: vs. Grambling (L, 78-75)
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
Players Mentioned
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