Ole Miss ends Vanderbilt’s hopes of a No. 1 seed with upset in SEC tournament

Ole Miss stumbled in the postseason with four straight losses, but the team rallied when it mattered most. The Rebels defeated No. 5 Vanderbilt 89-78 in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, earning them a ticket to their fourth semifinal appearance in the last five years.

This result also means Ole Miss went 2-0 against Vanderbilt this season, with the first win coming when the Rebels were displaced by winter storm. This victory, however, was dismissed by many before the match. Vanderbilt entered Friday’s game ranked fifth in the nation and also a serious contender for the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and was widely considered a favorite to advance to the semifinals. (Although our CBS Sports’ Bold Predictions Helped Ole Miss Win This Game.)

Animated coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin was asked if her team takes it personally.

“Absolutely-fucking-lutely,” she replied on the ESPN show.

Ole Miss star Cotie McMahon felt the same way.

“The media told us we weren’t talking or disrupting. We weren’t doing the Ole Miss way,” she said. “We just felt like in tournament time it was either we win or we go home.”

McMahon finished the game with 27 points and seven assists. It wasn’t her best shooting night, but she got the job done from the free throw line, going 15 of 17. The star of the show was senior forward Latasha Lattimore, who scored 28 points coming off the bench, more than double her season average of 10.4 points per game.

McPhee-McCuin talked about the importance of her team having a strong defensive mentality, whether the shots are falling or not. The Rebels took that to heart and held Vanderbilt to just 5 of 29 over the first two quarters in a complete team effort. The 49-17 score was not only the lowest of the season for the Commodores, it was also the largest halftime deficit in an SEC Tournament game since 1998.

Ole Miss also took care of business on the offensive end of the court, shooting a combined 57.6 percent from the field in the first half, with Lattimore shooting a perfect 7 of 7 and Tianna Thompson going 6 of 7. Coach Yo had no grades for his team at halftime and opted to let his players take the lead in their discussion.

Vanderbilt had a big mountain to climb, but started the second half strong by forcing several turnovers and going on a bit of a run in the opening minutes. However, Ole Miss did not give up its momentum and ended the quarter on a 19-4 run.

Vanderbilt star Mikayla Blakes started the game 0-for-12 and didn’t score her first basket until there were less than two and a half minutes left in the third quarter. She also found herself in a difficult situation. His fourth came early in the fourth quarter and coach Shea Ralph was ejected for complaining to the officials. It was his first eviction as Vanderbilt’s head coach.

The Commodores were motivated and went on a 15-0 run midway through the fourth quarter. Denim Deshields stopped the bleeding for Ole Miss with a 3-pointer.

The final five minutes were extremely competitive as Vanderbilt made a serious attempt to come back. However, the team’s leading rebounder, Sacha Washington, fouled out with less than four minutes left in the game. She had 16 points and 8 rebounds at the time.

Blakes heated up and scored 23 of his 24 total points in the second half, but the Commodores had dug themselves too deep a hole.

Ole Miss will face the winner of Texas vs. Alabama on Saturday. The Rebels have only lost to Texas by three points and to Alabama by one point this season, with both games coming on the road.

“We have to figure out how to have the courage to believe in ourselves to put a team away,” McPhee-McCuin said on the show. “And I told them before the game, ‘Don’t be shocked if we’re ahead by a lot.’ We’ve done this before, and it’s no coincidence. We’re legit, guys. Very good? But sometimes my team is still in shock, and that’s humbling. But for now, I think at this point in the season we have to forget about humility. We can be humble, but we must be confident. We need to be bravado and boastful about ourselves, like we belong. »

Vanderbilt was already slightly behind Texas in the race for the final projected No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. A loss in the quarterfinals gave the Longhorns the lead. Vic Schaefer’s team will just about make it by advancing to the semifinals of Saturday’s SEC tournament.