Women's Basketball Set for Friday Afternoon Showdown vs. New Orleans

			OLE MISS (2-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. NEW ORLEANS (1-2, 0-0 Southland) Friday, Nov. 15 • 3 p.m. • Oxford, Miss. The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500)
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OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss women's basketball looks to improve to 3-0 when it will hit the court for a 3 p.m. CT showdown against New Orleans as part of a doubleheader with the Rebel men at The Pavilion on Friday.

PROMOTIONS
• Specialty Team Poster Giveaway

TEAM FACTS

Ole Miss Rebels (2-0, 0-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Yolett McPhee-McCuin • 2nd Season at Ole Miss (11-22) • 105-85 career record (7th Season)

New Orleans Privateers (1-2, 0-0 Southland)
Head Coach: Brooks Donald Williams • 1st Season at ULM (0-0) • 161-130 career record (10th season)

ON THE AIR

Television/Online: SEC Network +
Play-by-Play: Will Kollmeyer
Color: Lindsay Roy

OLE MISS RADIO

Radio: 105.1 FM
Audio: TuneIn
Play-by-Play: Graham Doty

SERIES AT A GLANCE
At Oxford: Ole Miss leads 5-0
At New Orleans: Ole Miss leads 3-0
At Neutral Sites: Never Happened
Longest UM Streak: 8 (1986-Present)
Longest UNO Streak: Never Happened
Biggest UM Win: 50 (12/01/04 - at Oxford)
Biggest UNO Win: Never Happened
Most UM Points: 100 (12/01/04 - at Oxford)
Most UNO Points: 61 (02/14/88 - at Oxford)

SERIES NOTES

Series History
Ole Miss leads, 8-0

Current Streak
Ole Miss, 8

First Meeting
Dec. 30, 1986
• W, 74-54, at New Orleans

First Meeting in Oxford
Feb. 14, 1988
• W, 72-61

Last Meeting
Dec. 14, 2015
• W, 97-59, in Oxford
• Torri Lewis: 36 points, 10-of-22 3PT
• Tied for third-most threes in a game in NCAA history

Series Notes
• One of 34 Ole Miss 100-point games came against New Orleans on Dec. 1, 2004 (100-50, in Oxford)

SCOUTING NEW ORLEANS

Record
1-2, 0-0 Southland

Last Game
W, 91-31, vs. Pensacola Christian
• Top Scorers: Rehema Franklin (16 points), Mia Deck (16 points)
• Third fewest points allowed, seventh largest scoring margin in program history.

Notes
• Top scorer: Rehema Franklin (12.3 PPG)
• Whitley Larry: one of three Southland players to return that ranked top-10 in both rebounding and blocks
• Shooting .410 while holding opponents to .365
• Forcing 22.0 turnovers per game
• 13th NCAA in steals (36)

TEAM NOTES

LAST TIME OUT (vs. ULM)
An offensive explosion from Deja Cage and a double-double from Iyanla Kitchens helped lead the Ole Miss women's basketball team to a 66-42 victory over ULM at The Pavilion on Nov. 10.

"I thought our team did a lot of good stuff," said Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin. "We have some things we need to improve on, but a lot of people got better in a lot of situations. This is what non-conference is about. Having the opportunity to fix things, game after game."

Ole Miss (2-0) scored first and never looked back, leading the game wire-to-wire. The Rebels used an 11-2 run to close the first quarter, a momentum surge that Ole Miss was able to hold onto for the remainder of the game. The Rebel defense got out to a ferocious start, holding ULM (0-1) to just 12 points on 4-of-26 shooting (15.4 percent) in the first half. This marked the eighth-best defensive half in school history and the best since 2016. The 42 total points allowed ties for the best single-game defensive effort since holding Austin Peay to 38 points on Dec. 20, 2016. On the day, the Rebels out-shot the Warhawks by an advantage of 49 percent to 32 percent.

"I thought there was a high-level of communication out there defensively," McPhee-McCuin said. "I thought that we rebounded really well, and we got out in transition and played the pace that we would love to play."

Leading the way for Ole Miss was junior Deja Cage, who in just her second game as a Rebel went off for a career-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting with a 4-of-6 clip from beyond the arc. Combined with her performance in the season opener vs. Mississippi Valley State, Cage is averaging 18.5 points on 68.1 percent shooting. Cage came through in the clutch on Sunday as well, hitting two buzzer-beater three-pointers in the first and third quarters.

"This is what you can expect from Deja," McPhee-McCuin said. "That's why we brought her here, because she can score the ball from all three levels. I promise you, you haven't even seen her in full form because right now she's still getting back in shape. As she continues to get her confidence and get in shape, you'll see her do this at a more consistent rate every single day."

Ole Miss had several other impressive individual performances. Sophomore Iyanla Kitchens had the first double-double of her career, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, both of which were career-highs. Junior Dominique Banks also had a solid all-around stat line, finishing the game with five points, seven rebounds and four blocks. Sophomore Taylor Smith chipped in eight points, five rebounds and three assists, freshman Jayla Alexander recorded a career-high eight points and junior Valerie Nesbitt added six points and four rebounds.

EARLY SEASON SUCCESS
A win vs. ULM on Sunday would continue a long-standing tradition at Ole Miss: winning early. If victorious, this would be the 21st Rebel team in 46 seasons to open the year with a 3-0 record and the first since the 2016-17 season.

SUCCESS AGAINST THE SOUTHLAND
Ole Miss has a dominant all-time record against current Southland Conference schools, holding a 50-9 all-time record. Ole Miss holds an 8-0 record against New Orleans, the second-most meetings for the Rebels against a Southland school behind 17 contests against Southeastern Louisiana (17-0). Of the 10 current Southland schools that Ole Miss has played, the Rebels only hold a losing record against Stephen F. Austin (2-4).

DEFENSE! DEFENSE!
Ole Miss currently owns the SEC's second-ranked scoring defense, yielding just 47.5 points through two games played. That average also ranks 26th in the NCAA. The 95 total points the Rebels have allowed through two games stands as one of just six Ole Miss teams to allow 100 points or fewer through the first two contests.

ALL HANDS ON DECK
Of the 10 Rebels that have seen action in 2019-20, nine have averaged at least 15 minutes of action through two games played, with six averaging at least 20 minutes.

SHARING IS CARING
Ole Miss got off to a strong start in the assist department, notching 20 on 30 made field goals against Mississippi Valley State to open the season on Nov. 20. The Rebels had five games with at least 20 assists in 2018-19 after doing so only three times the year prior. Last season, Ole Miss was 6-5 when recording more assists than its opponent, but 3-16 on the opposite end of the spectrum.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

CAGE BACK IN THE SWING OF THINGS
Junior Deja Cage has showed no signs of having sat on the bench for an entire season, as she is currently the top scorer for the Rebels at 18.5 points per game with a 68.2 percent shooting clip and a 66.7 rate from three-point distance. Cage, a DePaul transfer that is also returning from a preseason injury, has topped her previous career high of 15 points in each of her first two games, dropping 16 points in just 16 minutes in the season opener vs. Mississippi Valley State before leading the charge for the Rebels in her first career start against ULM with a 21-point outing on 4-of-6 three-point shooting.

Cage currently ranks as eighth-best scorer in the SEC and ties for the top three-point shooter with 3.0 treys per game.

COOKING WITH KITCHENS
Sophomore Iyanla Kitchens blossomed in a big way against ULM, recording her first double-double with career highs in points (10) and rebounds (10). Kitchens, who averaged 6.2 minutes per game her freshman season, is currently averaging 7.0 points and 7.0 rebounds through two games played in 2019-20.

SMITH IN SPOTLIGHT AS SOPHOMORE
Sophomore Taylor Smith emerged as a potent scoring threat for the Rebels after a career day against Mississippi Valley State. Smith, who entered this season with a career-high of nine points scored against Florida last season, doubled that with a demonstrative 18-point performance on 9-of-17 shooting. Smith started off a perfect 4-of-4 from the field thanks to a deadly mid-range jumper.

After chipping in eight points vs. ULM, Smith is second on the team with 13.0 points per game and a 50 percent clip from the field.

AIR IT OUT, TORRI!
Senior three-point specialist Torri Lewis picked up right where she left off two years ago, draining 3-of-5 from beyond the arc for 11 total points against MVSU to start the season. Lewis, who returned for her redshirt senior season at Ole Miss after sitting out last year due to the birth of her son, A.J., is a career 34.4 percent three-point shooter. In her career, 84.8 percent of all of her field goals have come from three-point distance.

In her career, Lewis owns 27 games with multiple threes -- hitting seven or more threes in a game twice. She knocked down a school-record 10 in a game vs. New Orleans as a freshman in 2015 (the third-most in a single-game in NCAA history), and during her junior year, she nailed seven against Alabama.

During that junior season, Lewis was on fire from downtown in the final month of the season, going 16-of-32 in a stretch from deep from Feb. 1-11. That season, 90 percent of her made field goals were three-pointers and 131 of her 150 attempts were from beyond the arc (87.3 percent).

MIMI DIRECTING TRAFFIC
Sophomore guard Mimi Reid returned to her role as the floor general for the Rebels, notching six assists against MVSU -- the 11th time in her young career she has recorded at least six in a game. Reid was unflappable in this role as a redshirt freshman in 2018-19, spearheading what was an efficient Rebel offensive attack. She was the only player in the SEC last year with separate games of 11+ assists (vs. Louisiana) and 11+ rebounds (vs. Western Michigan), and she led all SEC freshmen with 4.3 assists per game (sixth overall). Reid was also the most efficient shooter for the Rebels last season, knocking down a team-high 40.2 percent of her field goal tries.

DOM ON THE BLOCK
Junior transfer Dominique Banks has been a force to reckon with on the block, averaging 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks to go along with her 6.0 points per game average at the moment. Banks has started both games for the Rebels at the five position, and she currently ranks fifth in the SEC and 21st in the NCAA with her 3.0 blocks per game. Banks, a transfer from Gulf Coast State Community College, was part of an NJCAA national title team in 2019, shooting 52.6 percent from the field for Gulf Coast State.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

YEAR TWO FOR COACH YO
Ole Miss enters the second season of the Coach Yo era with Yolett McPhee-McCuin at the helm in 2019-20.

McPhee-McCuin took over a Rebel program that had just four returners and willed it to outperform all the preseason polls that had picked Ole Miss unanimously to finish last. The Rebels improved their SEC win total by two games from the year before, winning three conference contests – one of which was a thrilling 55-49 win at No. 16 Kentucky on Jan. 13. The win was the first over a ranked team on the road for Ole Miss since 2011 and the first win in general at UK since 2007.

McPhee-McCuin also mentored graduate transfer Crystal Allen, who in her lone season donning a Rebel jersey became one of the most electrifying players in the SEC. Allen finished the season third in the conference at 18.4 PPG and was named second-team All-SEC – the first Rebel to earn All-SEC honors since 2014-15.

BACK FOR MORE
Returning for the Rebels in 2019-20 are senior Torri Lewis, junior Deja Cage and sophomores Iyanla Kitchens, Mimi Reid and Taylor Smith. The three Ole Miss sophomores, however, were the only Rebel returnees to have seen action last season, as Lewis redshirted due to the birth of her son, A.J., and Cage sat out due to NCAA transfer rules.

FRESH FACES
Ole Miss will feature eight fresh faces this season:

#1 Sarah Dumitrescu • Fr. • G • 6-0
• Bucharest, Romania
• IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida)
• Dual citizen of the United States and Romania
• Four-star prospect by Prospect Nation (No. 49 overall), three-star by ESPN
• On 2017 U18 FIBA team for Romania

#3 Donnetta Johnson • So. • G • 5-11
• Queens, New York
• Georgia transfer; will sit out 2019-20
• Played in 27 games, starting eight
• SEC Freshman of the Week after win vs. #13 Tennessee
• #28 guard nationally out of Baldwin High School

#4 Valerie Nesbitt • Jr. • G • 5-8
• Nassau, Bahamas
• Chipola College transfer
• Averaged 17.1 PPG and shot 45 percent last year
• First-Team All-Conference
• Played on the Bahamian National Team under Coach Yo

#12 Jordan Berry • Fr. • G • 5-7
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• Mount Carmel Academy
• Part of four state tournament teams
• Second-Team All-State in 2019
• Class Valedictorian

#13 Dominique Banks • Jr. • F • 6-5
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Gulf Coast State CC transfer
• Helped GCSCC win NJCAA title in 2019
• Shot 52.6 percent in 2019
• Averaged a double-double her senior year of high school at Maynard Jackson

#20 Jayla Alexander • Fr. • G • 5-9
• Pearl, Mississippi
• Pearl High School
• #1 player in Mississippi, #81 nationally
• 19.1 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 6.9 APG, 5.5 SPG
• 6A state championship game MVP

#25 Bryn Parker • Fr. • G • 6-0
• Scottsdale, Arizona
• Pinnacle High School
• Led team to 6A semi-state title in 2019
• 10.5 PPG, 9.2 RPG in 2019
• First-Team All-Region in 2019

#40 Andeija Puckett • Jr. • C • 6-2
• Griffin, Georgia
• Cincinnati transfer; will sit out 2019-20
• Part of WNIT team in 2019
• Played in all 35 games in 2018-19
• Top-100 recruit (18.0 PPG, 10.0 RPG)

REPLACING GREATNESS
Ole Miss will have to replace several significant contributors in 2019-20 after losing an excellent senior class last season. The four graduated seniors – Crystal Allen (18.4 PPG), Cecilia Muhate (3.3 PPG), La'Karis Salter (8.1 PPG) and Shandricka Sessom (9.7 PPG) – combined for 65.9 percent of all Rebel scoring last year.

Allen, the first Rebel to earn All-SEC honors in five years with a second-team nod, lit the net on fire, finishing the regular season third in the SEC at her 18.4 PPG.

VALUABLE EXPERIENCE
The three Rebel sophomore returnees -- Iyanla Kitchens, Mimi Reid and Taylor Smith -- all earned vauable experience as freshmen in 2018-19. All three started at least three games, combining for 41 total starts and a combined minute average of 19.1 per game. Reid received the most playing time, starting in 26 of 29 games played, while Smith tallied 12 starts of her own in 30 games played.

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA
Ole Miss will be featured on national television five times during the regular season, with all five on SEC Network. First is a Monday night primetime matchup at Texas A&M on Jan. 6. Two more road SEC Network games follow at Mississippi State on Jan. 26 and Vanderbilt on Feb. 9 before a home TV tilt vs. Arkansas on Feb. 16. Ole Miss wraps up its regular season SEC Network appearances with a trip to Missouri on Feb. 23. Additionally, all non-televised home games and road SEC games will be broadcast on SEC Network+. The entirety of the SEC Tournament (March 4-8, Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina) will air on a combination of SEC Network, ESPNU and ESPN2.

Follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWBB, Facebook at Ole Miss WBB and on Instagram at Ole MissWBB. You can also follow head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin on Twitter at @YolettMcCuin

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Players Mentioned

Jayla Alexander

Crystal Allen

Dominique Banks

Jordan Berry

Deja Cage

Sarah Dumitrescu

Donnetta Johnson

Iyanla Kitchens

Torri Lewis

Cecilia Muhate

Bryn Parker

Andeija Puckett

Mimi Reid

La'Karis Salter

Shandricka Sessom

Taylor Smith

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