The University of Mississippi Athletics

Sunday, January 5
Bryan-College Station, Texas
2 PM

Ole Miss

at

Texas A&M

KK Deans Auburn

Women’s Basketball Takes on Texas A&M in College Station

1/4/2025 | Women's Basketball

OXFORD, Miss. – After its fourth consecutive conference opener victory, No. 25/25 Ole Miss women's basketball will continue its road stretch by visiting Texas A&M on Sunday, Jan. 5. The 18th overall matchup between the Rebels and Aggies is set to kick off at 2 p.m. CT at Reed Arena, streaming on SEC Network+.
 
TEAM FACTS
No. 25/25 Ole Miss Rebels (10-3, 1-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Yolett McPhee-McCuin • 7th Season at Ole Miss (113-87) • 12th Season in Career (207-150)
 
Texas A&M Aggies (7-6, 0-1 SEC)
Head Coach: Joni Taylor • 3rd Season at Texas A&M (35-38) • 10th Season in Career (175-113)
 
ON THE AIR
Television: SEC Network+
Play-by-Play: Will Johnson
Color: Tap Bentz
 
OLE MISS RADIO
Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: Graham Doty
 
OLE MISS VS. TEXAS A&M
Sunday marks the 18th overall matchup between Ole Miss and Texas A&M. The Aggies hold an 11-6 record in the series which dates to 1995. 
 
The Rebels have won four of the past five meetings, featuring a 57-38 victory on Jan. 8, 2023. Thirty-eight points is the fewest allowed by Ole Miss against an SEC opponent in program history. Texas A&M made one 3-pointer in 13 attempts in that game, shooting only 34.04% from the field.
 
The Rebels beat the Aggies twice in 2023. Their second victory came in the first round of the SEC Tournament. Four players reached double figures, as Angel Baker led the team with 23 points. Madison Scott had 16 points and a team-leading eight rebounds to help the Rebels move on in the tournament.
 
Ole Miss is looking to get back into the win column against Texas A&M, having dropped last season's game, 72-53.
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Joni Taylor is in her third season at the helm of the Texas A&M program. In 2024-25, Taylor has led the Aggies to a 7-6 overall and 0-1 SEC record entering Sunday's matchup.
 
The Aggies, much like the Rebels, have strong paint presence. They average 5.7 blocks per game, the fourth-best in the SEC and just behind the Rebels' third-ranked 5.9. This was on full display against Texas Southern, when A&M rejected a season-high 11 shots.
 
Redshirt-seniors Lauren Ware and Aicha Coulibaly, who both excel in paint protection, have been established leaders for Texas A&M since their arrivals via the transfer portal in 2023-24. Ware has the SEC's fourth-most blocks at the turn of 2025 with 26 and an average of 2.2 per game. She had a career-high seven blocks against Texas Southern. Her 137 career blocks is the fifth-largest among active SEC players. Coulibaly is in the top-15 of the conference in blocks as well.
 
Coulibaly has led the team in scoring this season, putting up 12.7 per game while dishing out 2.4 assists. She enters the game with 1596 points in her career, the eighth-most among active SEC players.
 
Sahara Jones is in her fifth year with the program, where she's accumulated 66 starts in over 100 games played. This season, she's averaging the most points (11.8), rebounds (6.7) and assists (2.0) per game in her career, and is on pace to have several personal season bests. She's also a capable 3-point shooter, making 31.6% this season.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Ole Miss opened conference play with a bang, dropping Auburn 85-58 at Neville Arena on Thursday evening.
 
Ole Miss has started its conference schedule with a win for the fourth season in a row. The Rebels handed the Tigers its worst defeat of the young season. The 27-point gap is the widest margin of defeat for Auburn this year, and its 58 points being the second-fewest for the team in 2024-25. Additionally, Ole Miss didn't allow a single Auburn three-pointer in the game.
 
KK Deans and Kennedy Todd-Williams paced the team in points, scoring 20 and 19, respectively. Both totals are respective season-highs, as Deans became the second Rebel this season to reach the 20-point mark. Deans tied a season-high with four three-pointers, which is also tied for the most by any Rebel in a game this season. 
 
Todd-Williams shot a perfect 11-for-11 from the charity stripe against the Tigers, becoming the first Rebel since she did so last season to make 10-or-more free throws in a game. After a free throw in the fourth quarter, Todd-Williams reached the 500-point mark for her Ole Miss career. At the conclusion of the game, the fifth-year senior sits at 503 points in the Blue and Red.
 
IN OUR DEFENSE
It's well known that Ole Miss aims to dictate and disrupt, a goal the Rebel defense has accomplished so far. 
 
Ole Miss has held the No. 1 spot in the nation for fewest points allowed per game since Dec. 15. The Rebels are the only team to hold opponents to below an average of 50 points, allowing just 47.5 points per game. Through thirteen games in the 2024-25 season, Ole Miss has forced eight teams to score fewer than 50 points.
 
Top Scoring Defenses in D1
1. Ole Miss: 47.5 opp ppg
2. Minnesota: 50.1 opp ppg
3. Kansas State: 50.3 opp ppg
4. West Virginia: 50.9 opp ppg
5. UNC Greensboro: 51.5 opp ppg
 
WE SCORE TOO!
Offensively, the Rebels are averaging 80.3 points per game, the most by a Rebel team after the first game of conference play since 2020-21. 
 
The Rebels scored 90-plus points three times so far, with its highest-scoring outing against South Alabama. Ole Miss' 94 points is the most by a Rebel team since Nov. 14, 2021, and is the third-most points scored under McPhee-McCuin. 
 
The nonconference schedule also saw the first time under McPhee-McCuin that Ole Miss has registered at least three games with 90-plus points, and the first time since 2017-18.
 
In their opening conference matchup against Auburn, the Rebels reached the 80-point plateau for the eighth time this season, officially the first time a team under head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin has earned that many games over 80. It's the most by a Rebel squad since the 2009-10 season, when the team had 10 games over 80.
 
FRESHMAN PHENOM
True freshman guard Sira Thienou has wasted little time making her mark as an Ole Miss Rebel as the Bamako, Mali, native has been tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week twice this season, on Nov. 26 and Dec. 17. These recognitions mark the first such honors of her young career and the first awards of its type for an Ole Miss player since Madison Scott earned the same accolade six times as a true freshman during the 2020-21 season.
 
Thienou scored in double figures in three straight outings for the Rebels in November, including consecutive 16-point outbursts against Jackson State (Nov. 18) and Boston College (Nov. 25). The last time an Ole Miss freshman had a 16-plus point performance was when Scott earned 17 against No. 18 Arkansas, on Feb. 19, 2021.
 
In December, Thienou registered a career-high 23 points against South Alabama, marking the first 20+ performance by a Rebel this season and the most points scored by a SEC freshman that week. Thienou is the first Ole Miss freshman since the 2020-21 season to put up at least 20 points in a single game.
 
Top open January, Thienou showed off her defensive prowess against Auburn, stealing the ball a career-high seven times to become the first Rebel to have five steals in a game since Angel Baker did so on Jan. 8, 2023. It also marks the most helpers by any Rebel since Lashonda Monk had the same amount against Alabama on Jan. 13, 2022.
 
Additionally, Thienou currently holds a five game double-digit scoring streak, solidifying herself as the only Rebel freshman to achieve this feat since Valencia McFarland in 2010-11.
 
Leading the Rebels with 12.2 points per game and nine double-digit scoring performances, Thienou will look to build on her already noteable freshman year in Ole Miss' conference slate.
 
WE AIN'T SCARED
Yolett McPhee-McCuin values the importance of playing top-tier opponents in non-conference play and it shows in the NCAA's NET Rankings.
 
Consistently sitting in the Top 25 in the NET Rankings, the Rebels came in at No. 13 in the latest update. 
 
135 GAMES AND COUNTING...
One of the most acclaimed Rebels in program history has met another milestone marker, as Madison Scott has officially entered the top-10 in most games played at Ole Miss. 
 
Competing in 135 games and counting in a Rebel jersey, the graduate student is just 10 games away from surpassing Peggie Gillom, who played in 144 games, for most at Ole Miss. 
 
Along with Scott, Kennedy Todd-Williams has competed in 135 career games, seeing action in 46 games at Ole Miss and 89 with her past team, North Carolina.
 
NO THREE'S HERE
The Rebels bask in causing havoc on other opponent's offenses, and Ole Miss once again proved its power over Auburn, holding the Tigers scoreless from beyond the arc. 
 
Ole Miss is the first team to hold Auburn scoreless from three since the 2022-23 season, forcing the Tigers to go 0-for-3 from deep in its opening conference victory of the season.  
 
BENCH BANDIT
Coming off the bench against Auburn, KK Deans was a key component of Ole Miss' win with 20 points in her 26 minutes of action. Shooting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, Deans tied herself and Kennedy Todd-Williams for most three pointers made in a game this season.
 
 In the six games she's come off the bench this season as the Rebels' sixth woman, Deans has averaged 8.2 points per game and has made a team-high nine three-pointers.
 
STAY CONNECTED WITH THE REBELS
Single-game tickets for the 2024-25 Ole Miss basketball season are on sale now. To purchase or learn more about buying single-game tickets for women's basketball, click here or contact the Ole Miss Athletics ticket office.
 
Follow the Rebels on X at @OleMissWBB, Facebook at Ole Miss WBB and on Instagram at Ole MissWBB. You can also follow head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin on X at @YolettMcCuin.

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