SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 7, 2025

Yolett McPhee-McCuin

KK Deans

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Ole Miss Rebels

Postgame Press Conference

Texas 70, Ole Miss 63

THE MODERATOR: We welcome in Ole Miss. We'll begin with an opening statement from Coach.

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: I thought tonight was an incredible game. I thought you saw two teams that were playing incredibly hard. You wouldn't think that one of them is unranked, especially when you're playing against the No. 1 team, right? Should be a blowout if we're not good enough. Clearly that didn't happen.

Thought we lacked some aggressiveness in key moments. But overall I thought both teams wanted it. Texas just wanted it a little bit more than us. So we have to learn from this and prepare for the NCAA tournament.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for KK.

Q. What was working offensively in the fourth quarter as y'all tried to complete your comeback?

KK DEANS: Our defense. It created an offense. We executed down in the stretch. We just didn't come up with the key rebounds and stuff. A couple of them, different ballgame.

Q. The third quarter seemed like it was an uphill battle to get the offense going. What went into that eight-minute scoring drop?

KK DEANS: I mean, yeah, third quarter was tough. 10 minutes to go, I said, when we was in the huddle. We responded. We went in there with an attitude. We know it's lose or go home, so of course we're going to fight.

We have to take that same fight and know it's the little things to win those games. We have to do the little things to make a run in the tournament.

Q. This game obviously not exactly the same as the first one. You talk about small things making a difference. What do you take away from this game the most?

KK DEANS: To me right now, just coming up with the 50/50 balls, coming up with key rebounds. We clean those things up, there ain't nobody -- it's not anything anybody else is doing to us. We know what we need to do. We seen it against LSU. Nobody is going to remember those things. We got to come up with those things on those days, and when the opportunity presents itself.

Q. Physical game tonight. How do you hold the composure down the stretch to be able to come back within three?

KK DEANS: Our preparation. We was prepared for the game. That's what we do. We defend. We play gritty. We play tough. When people see who they going to play, they see Ole Miss, they know it's going to be a tough game. That's just our identity. We just brung it to them, brung the fight.

THE MODERATOR: KK, thank you. We'll continue with questions for Coach Yo.

Q. You've been putting a lot of emphasis on the fact of you being unranked. With this showing, what do you want people to know about your team from this matchup?

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: Did you see the game? Do we look like we're an unranked team? There you go (smiling).

We're not No. 1. We can't make the case because we didn't beat Texas and they're No. 1, but we damn sure should be in the top 25. I have a lot of respect for Vic. I think he has a lot of respect for me. Nobody wants to see Ole Miss in their bracket.

Q. Being down 15, gritty game, to be able to come back, how would you describe your team's mental makeup?

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: Yeah, I mean, for me, I'm not going to sit up here and cry like some people do. I thought it was a physical game. Both teams wanted it. That is our brand, both Texas and Ole Miss, right? We're going to get down, we're going to roll our sleeves up and compete. Both coaches are going to coach hard.

At one point, me and Vic was going at it. In my head I was like, I love this. Both teams were trying to win. This is women's basketball.

As far as I'm concerned, they threw a punch, we threw a punch back. He worked the officials. I worked the officials. That is what it should be like. Like you asked, we had that scoring drought because we stopped being aggressive. We stopped being aggressive. We wanted the officials to call the fouls instead of not worrying about that and just go to the basket.

This is the Southeastern Conference. Pros play in this league. When did we start crying for fouls and stuff like that? That's never going to be my DNA, nor my team. It really took us out of our rhythm.

Look, 17, 16, then 7, then we score 23 in the fourth. Elite-level execution at the end of the game. Sometimes we converted, we sometimes didn't. We have to learn from this, because next time we lose, it's over.

Q. For nights like tonight, how nice is it to have a veteran like KK who has been through some wars?

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: As far as I'm concerned, like, the seniors, I have five of 'em, they have to all act as if this is it, because it really is. We get a nice little break. Luckily for us in the NCAA tournament, you don't play back to back to back, right? You get at least a break.

I value KK and all of our seniors because... My conversation with them was, like, Use this time to rest and reflect because the next time we lose, it's over. They're in class, talking to agents. They're getting ready to leave this nest that the University of Mississippi has provided for them. It's a pretty good nest. Then they get to go into the real world. It's not as comfortable as it is here.

We got to use that time. I'm sure people have regrets. I don't want them to have regrets when they're done playing for Ole Miss.

Q. Madison Scott, what can you say about her performance, how important she has been for you?

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: Maddie is important to our success. Maddie also can't take seven shots, all right? We needed her to take more shots because when she takes more shots, more shots go in.

For example, she was 5 for 7. Why not go 14 for 16? She's that efficient. We will need her to be more aggressive and take more shots for us if we're going to win these games. And she's capable.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: Thank you, everybody.