During the Ole Miss women’s basketball team’s NCAA tournament first-round victory over No. 10 Marquette on Saturday afternoon, the virtues of a good marriage were on full display.
No. 7 Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin shared a photo of her and her husband Kelly making the same gesture on the sideline and in the stands, respectively, during a moment of the team’s 67-55 win.
It’s a very sweet snapshot of how in tune these two are while “Coach Yo” is at work, and how supportive her husband is while he’s cheering on his wife and her team in March Madness tournament play.
You can tell that this couple thinks exactly alike when it comes to what’s happening on the court, which Coach Yo affectionally notes in her social media post: “This is what 16 years of marriage looks like!”
For Ole Miss fans, this is surely a sight they’ll hope to see plenty of as McPhee-McCuin continues to lead her team to 20-plus win seasons.
Simply put, Thursday night was not a positive step for Ole Miss Rebels women’s basketball.
The Rebels fell to the visiting Texas A&M Aggies 72-53 at the SJB Pavilion in Oxford, and their head coach used her opening statement to appeal to Ole Miss fans for the second time in two weeks, only this time, it was to apologize.
“I’m just incredibly disappointed with my team,” Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. “No fight, no effort, no maturity. I don’t even know who they were tonight. And I want to apologize to every fan that came out to support us. That’s not Ole Miss women’s basketball. Just really disappointed.
“I don’t have words. We just did not compete tonight, and it is completely unacceptable.”
This loss caps off a miserable week on the hardwood for Coach Yo’s team, dropping back-to-back games by a combined deficit of 48 points. When asked how she plans to address the slide she saw on Thursday, McPhee-McCuin did not go into detail.
But, based on her answer, she means business.
“First thing in the morning,” McPhee-McCuin said. “That’s how I address it: first thing in the morning.”
The Rebels have plenty of time to right the ship before their next game, but this also leaves a sour taste in their mouth for the next week. Ole Miss will take the floor on the road against the Florida Gators next Thursday with hopes of returning to its winning ways after a poor two-game stretch.