How Ole Miss women's basketball is preparing for Kim Mulkey, LSU
· Yahoo Sports
OXFORD — Ole Miss women's basketball coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin has the next 48 hours already scheduled. She can't afford an idle moment.
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"At 6:15 I get up and I make breakfast for my daughters," McPhee-McCuin said. "And I pack their lunch. After that I make coffee for my dad. After that I come into the office and watch film."
The No. 17 Rebels (21-6, 8-4) beat No. 21 Tennessee 94-81 on Feb. 17. It was a make-up game that was initially supposed to be played on Jan. 26 but was postponed due to a winter storm.
The extra game makes things complicated. The win against Tennessee (16-7, 8-4) came two days after Ole Miss lost at No. 18 Kentucky. Approximately 48 hours after the postgame handshake line with Tennessee, Ole Miss will tip off at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion against No. 7 LSU on Feb. 19 (8 p.m., ESPN).
What does the only day in between games looks like for McPhee-McCuin after arriving at work? It will not include practice.
"We will meet at 10 a.m. and we will talk about LSU," McPhee-McCuin said. "Then we will meet at 1:30 with our team. We will walk them through. We aren't going to be able to do anything physical. And then we're just going to pray we have a large crowd and that the adrenaline can take us into a victory Thursday night."
The Rebels are in the middle of a gauntlet. A road game against No. 3 South Carolina is scheduled for Feb. 22 after LSU.
McPhee-McCuin said the key is to absorb small things from games. Learn from a few clips on film and flush it. Said she was asked before the Tennessee game how upset the team was from the loss at Kentucky.
"I said, 'Girl, we already forgot about the Kentucky loss,' " McPhee-McCuin said. "We've got to focus on tonight. We just take it in small bites."
McPhee-McCuin called forward Cotie McMahon a "generational player" after her career-high 39-point performance against the Lady Vols. McPhee-McCuin said the Rebels are coming along at the right time, and she was proud to lead a team that didn't make any excuses.
"Our team's character is superb," McPhee-McCuin said. "We're playing in the toughest little stretch of anybody. Not because of who we're playing, it's because were playing all these games in a short amount of days."
Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at [email protected] or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Ole Miss women's basketball is preparing to play Kim Mulkey, LSU