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Mississippi Rebels

Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin slams lack of support for women’s sports, asks Oxford to ‘catch up’

Derek Peterson

By Derek Peterson

Published:

Ole Miss beat Florida, 81-70, on Thursday night inside The Pavilion. It was the Rebel’s fourth win in six games to open conference play, and it was their seventh win in 10 tries at home this season.

Senior guard Marquesha Davis scored 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Kennedy Todd-Williams nearly supplied a triple-double, posting 11 points with nine rebounds and eight assists. Snudda Collins had three blocks and three steals. The Rebels made 12 of their first 17 shots to come roaring out of the gates and take a 28-14 first-quarter lead. But, after the game, head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin didn’t want to open her press conference by talking about performance; instead, she had a message to deliver about the support.

Or lack thereof.

“It should have been packed up in here,” McPhee-McCuin said in her opening statement. “How does a team that goes to the Sweet 16, that only has two (SEC) losses, not have an average of 5,000 people in the stands? How? You know what it is? It’s the lack of value. And it needs to change. And I don’t care who’s upset about me saying this, because I’m going to speak the truth.”

The Rebels reported an attendance of 2,450 against Florida. The game against LSU drew 9,074 fans, though most of them came in support of the visitors. The season opener against Queens drew 7,196 fans, according to the school, aided by local schools bussing in students for the matinee tip. Ole Miss has not had more than 3,000 fans for any of its other home games this season.

“What I’m trying to get the Oxford community to do is to catch up. Because the rest of the world has caught up on the fact that women’s sports are legit, and it’s real,” McPhee-McCuin said. “I’m not going to allow people to make it seem like what we do doesn’t matter. I’m not going to allow people to make it seem like I haven’t earned everything that I’ve gotten. I’m, not going to make it seem like our women are less than. Because that is a false narrative out there. And the Oxford community needs to catch up to that. And that’s the truth.”

Ole Miss is 14-5 on the season. Last season, McPhee-McCuin led the Rebels to a 25-9 record and the program’s 11th Sweet 16 appearance. The year before that, Ole Miss went 23-9 and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

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McPhee-McCuin challenged the Oxford community on Thursday night to start showing up for her team. The Rebels will play another home game on Sunday against Tennessee — a game that is set to be broadcast on ESPN.

“The Oxford community needs to catch on. The Ole Miss campus (and community) needs to catch on. There are games that are sold out. The ticket for the LSU-South Carolina game was $3,000. There was a volleyball pro sports (match) sold out. … We need to catch up,” she said. “It’s disappointing when my team runs out here and have won a whole lot and we don’t get the crowd support that we deserve.

“And some people will say, ‘Oh, she’s just complaining, she needs to shut up. ‘ Well, I’m not shutting up. I’m not shutting up. You know why? Because when I turn on the TV, when I look around, when we go to other places, women’s sports is a real thing. And so I’m going to be the voice for that here. Because our community needs to be better, man.”

Derek Peterson

Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.

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