OXFORD – The Ole Miss women’s basketball team officially earned its fifth consecutive berth in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, as the No. 5-seeded Rebels will play No. 12 seed Gonzaga in the first round of the Minneapolis Regional on Friday.
Ole Miss (23-11) is ranked No. 19 in the latest AP Poll, up five spots following a pair of wins at the SEC Tournament. The Rebels defeated Auburn in their opener and the AP’s No. 6 team Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Texas in the semifinals. Ole Miss had dropped its last four games of the regular season.
The Rebels advanced to their second Sweet 16 in three seasons a year ago under eighth-year head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin. Ole Miss has three wins this season against teams that were ranked in the AP top five at the time of their meeting: one against Oklahoma and two against Vanderbilt.
Ole Miss averages 75.4 points per game – good for 36th nationally and the highest scoring average under McPhee-McCuin – and surrenders 62 points per game, which ranks 126th. Senior forward Cotie McMahon was named first-team All-SEC after averaging a team-best 19.9 points per game.
Gonzaga (24-9) won the West Coast Conference Tournament, taking down Oregon State 76-66 in the title game. The Rebels and Bulldogs played each other in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, a matchup Ole Miss won en route to a berth in the Sweet 16.
A total of 10 SEC teams made this year’s NCAA Tournament, including No. 1 seeds Texas and South Carolina. UConn is the top overall seed in the field.
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