Ole Miss wasn’t ready for raucous Colonial Life Arena environment, Rebels coach says

Augusta Stone
·2 min read

Ole Miss head women’s basketball coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin was disappointed in how the Rebels, freshly ranked No. 24 within the AP Top 25, played in their 29-point loss to No. 1 South Carolina on Thursday.

Aside from the Gamecocks’ on-court dominance, McPhee-McCuin made special mention of an integral part of playing in Columbia — the atmosphere at Colonial Life Arena.

McPhee-McCuin said she went into the South Carolina game wondering how her players would respond to the Gamecocks’ home-court atmosphere — where fans have led the nation in women’s basketball attendance for the past seven straight years.

After the game, she realized the Rebels just weren’t ready.

“I do think that the atmosphere totally shell-shocked some of our players,” McPhee-McCuin said after the game. “That was the only thing that we hadn’t seen yet was an atmosphere (like) South Carolina, Dawn (Staley), her team and her program have built.”

South Carolina, which is leading the nation in attendance this season, recorded a season high in reported attendance Thursday. Colonial Life Arena hosted 13,973 fans for the Ole Miss game, though it wasn’t originally supposed to be a matchup with the Rebels.

Until Sunday night, a ticket for South Carolina women’s basketball Thursday was designated for a matchup against UConn. USC announced Sunday that the makeup game for a postponed Ole Miss matchup from Jan. 2 would replace UConn.

McPhee-McCuin praised the environment at Colonial Life Arena after the Rebels’ loss. She said she was hoping to create a home-court advantage like that with her program at Ole Miss.

Even though she wasn’t sure how the Rebels would respond to the hostile road environment, McPhee-McCuin said she still left the game surprised at just how poorly the game went for Ole Miss.

“I was not expecting us to lay an egg because it was a white-out,” McPhee-McCuin said. “That’s just what happened.”

South Carolina plays its next game on the road at Florida on Sunday at noon. The game will be televised by SEC Network. USC’s next home game is next Thursday, Feb. 3 against Alabama.