Ole Miss women's basketball vs. South Carolina: Scouting report, score prediction
OXFORD — Ole Miss women's basketball saw an opportunity for a signature win over LSU washed away by a torrent of turnovers and Tigers free throws Thursday night.
The Rebels won't have to wait long to get another chance at that breakthrough victory, as top-ranked South Carolina journeys to the SJB Pavilion on Sunday (3 p.m., SEC Network).
Here's what to know when the Rebels (20-6, 9-4 SEC) clash with the Gamecocks (26-0, 13-0).
Winning the big ones
As good as the Rebels have been in 2022-23, they haven't quite been able to get over the top against the very best teams.
Ole Miss is 0-4 against teams ranked in the NET's top 25 as of Friday morning, although only one of those opportunities has come at home. The Rebels can bank on their home-court advantage for this one, but it's the toughest game of the year.
To describe Dawn Staley's Gamecocks as dominant would be a dramatic understatement. They outscore their opponents, on average, by more than 32 points. They've failed to win by double-digits only four times this season, and two of those came at Stanford and UConn.
Under Yolett McPhee-McCuin, the Rebels have been getting steadily more competitive against Staley's juggernaut.
They lost by 10 in the SEC Tournament last season, marking the closest contest these two programs have played since her arrival.
Can Ole Miss take another step forward here?
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What's at stake
Ole Miss remains comfortably in line for a second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth and, with only top-60 NET games remaining on the schedule, it would probably take a bad loss at the SEC Tournament to put that under threat.
Positioning for the conference tournament is still very much up in the air, though. The Rebels come into the weekend tied with Alabama for fourth place and the final double-bye that comes with it, but the Crimson Tide owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Ole Miss has three games to rectify that, with home games against South Carolina and Missouri on tap before a rematch with Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. Alabama has trips to Mississippi State and Florida to play before hosting the Rebels.
McPhee-McCuin said postgame Thursday that the tournament bye doesn't hold much value to her. Instead, she's chasing the accomplishment of back-to-back top-four finishes in the SEC.
"As far as we're concerned, these next three games we're going to try to win all three," she said. " If that happens to give us a double-bye great. If it doesn't, I'm fine with it. Because we wanna play."
More star power to handle
Just three days after getting torched by LSU's Angel Reese, the Rebels will have to contend with another star-laden roster, led by guard Zia Cooke and the reigning national player of the year, forward Aliyah Boston.
Cooke posts 15.2 points per game, on average, while Boston nearly averages a double-double, with 13.0 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest.
The Rebels will counter with Angel Baker, who had an outstanding 21-point game against LSU in defeat. Her 15 points per game rank 11th in the SEC.
Score prediction
South Carolina 63, Ole Miss 53. The Rebels successfully turned their game against LSU into a slugfest, and there's no reason to expect anything different against a South Carolina team that also loves to defend. Ole Miss just hasn't had the scoring to support its outstanding defense in these games against top-tier opponents, though. They could struggle to put the ball in the basket again here against the country's top-scoring defense.
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.≇
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss women's basketball vs. South Carolina: Score prediction
