SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 7, 2026

Yolett McPhee-McCuin

Denim DeShields

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Ole Miss Rebels

Postgame Press Conference

Texas 85, Ole Miss 68

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Yo and Denim DeShields. Opening statement from Coach.

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: Just really proud of my group. Just an incredible Southeastern Conference. It's the best league in the country.

Boy, we got some really good games in. We were able to have some really good tape as we prepare to see where we land for the NCAA Tournament.

I don't know. Maybe we're falling off. This is the most we lost to Texas by in a while. Usually it's a barn-burner, but they got the best of us tonight. Just compliments to them, and I know it will be a great championship game with them and South Carolina.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Denim.

Q. Despite the loss, you guys came in, beat No. 2 Vanderbilt. I think the score of this Texas game doesn't reflect how competitive it actually was. Similar to what Coach Yo said, talk about how proud you are of how your team performed.

DENIM SHIELDS: Honestly, I don't think I can really put into words how I feel about my team. We've been on a journey, and every journey has its ups and downs, of course, but our growth individually and collectively has been remarkable. I think the only people that can really recognize it and praise it the way that it should be is the people that are in our locker room, because obviously we see what goes in day in and day out. We're there with each other every single day, highs and lows.

I think that for us to just come out and play this competitive game and these past few games the way that we have, despite the journey that we've been on, is great. I love my team, and I think we did a great job.

Q. Denim, you finished with 20 points in this game, 15 in the second half. Was it something that you were seeing a little bit differently as you guys were obviously trying to maintain that momentum and essentially try to win the game?

DENIM SHIELDS: I think it was just kind of a mentality switch. I think that a lot of times when the game is going on, especially from my position, I kind of just am focused on putting my teammates in the right position to be successful, but sometimes when you're called up or when you just see your teammates need a little extra help, that's when it's our job to have each other's back.

I think that I kind of noticed, especially for our high-minutes players, they've put a lot of hard work into the season so far, and especially in the past few days. I just took it upon myself to kind of, you know, be there for them and be there for my team and do everything that I could, lay it on the line.

Q. How impactful is Coach Yo's energy on the sideline for you guys? I remember in the third quarter you guys hit that buzzer beater three to cut it to two, and Coach Yo was sprinting up and down the sideline. How impactful was her energy, and how does she keep you up against a team like Texas?

DENIM SHIELDS: It was actually funny you asked that because me and Coach Yo are opposites as far as our energy. She's very upbeat, and I'm more low key.

I think that to just have somebody like that, that you know is vouching for you and supporting you, especially in her position as being the leader of our team, it really does mean a lot, especially when we are going against a tough team like Texas and we are all obviously exhausted as well. So just to be able to look over and see that she's still giving 100% just kind of gives us that extra push.

Yeah, we're grateful to have somebody who is as upbeat and as energetic as her, as our coach.

Q. Coach kind of alluded to it, the last couple of competitions between Texas have been pretty tight. If you had to say one of your biggest takeaways from this game, what would you say, especially now that the next chapter is preparing for the NCAA Tournament?

DENIM SHIELDS: Honestly, I don't really like excuses. I feel like we dictate and disrupt. That's our identity. At the end of the day, we play in the toughest league against the toughest competition every single night in our league. I think that with that being said, sometimes things just happen the way that they happen. I'm not going to give our team any excuses to the score or whatnot, but just know that we'll grow from it.

I think Texas will make a great run in the NCAA, but so will we, and we'll learn from our mistakes.

THE MODERATOR: Denim, thank you very much. Questions for Coach.

Q. You came into this tournament on a four-game skid and missing some key pieces to your rotation. In spite of that, you took down the No. 2 seed in the tournament and played, you know, on paper, and the score and final score does not show it, a very good and close game against Texas. What is your message and take-away from this whole tournament heading into the NCAA Tournament?

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: Great question. For me, I just have an incredible amount of gratitude. It's a long season. Like Denim alluded to, I wanted to make sure that our team felt like I was going to fight with them the whole time. When they remember anything about me, that's what I want them to remember. Coach fought with me through the highs, through the lows, all of the above.

This has just been such a challenging season for us. There's so many lessons that we learned through it all, that we have talked about as we've gone through it. I'm just grateful for the opportunity for us to experience those, because we are going to learn from them and use them as we try to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

Q. Obviously you're very familiar with Madison's game. What makes that midrange jumper of hers so tough to defend?

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: Well, she's 6'1", and she -- I feel like every time Book plays us, it's personal, because she's from the state. Sometimes I don't want to even shake her head because I'm like, Why you went there? You could have did this with us.

When I think about our games with her, right, we played them at our place. We had them beat. She missed a shot, follows up, gets a rebound. Like, she always breaks it open every time we play them. I think it's a Mississippi thing. Super proud of her, though.

She's just a special talent. Wasn't she Player of the Year a couple of years? God's gift?

Q. She took over in the fourth quarter. Five of six, 13 points. What did you see happen? You guys got it to two, and it looked like you might have a shot. What did you see happen in the fourth quarter?

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: They started to get some shots in the zone. With young people, when they get a little tired, they can't think. So we kind of lost her. They did a really good job of working the back line of the zone.

Really I don't prefer to play zone against them for long periods of time because eventually they will figure it out. I would have preferred to get back into man, but I didn't feel physically and mentally we were prepared to do so. As you saw, we went man, and she just blew by us like it didn't matter.

I thought she did a good job just getting comfortable. They do a good job of finding those spots for her, a short corner. Then once she sees it goes in, then she'll occasionally shoot a three. I think it makes her very difficult to guard.

Q. Coach, you talked about basically -- I mean, obviously the goal is to win an NCAA Tournament Championship, but you also talked about making sure that Mississippi was amongst the mix among the top teams. After losing this game, we know what the score is. What would you want people to recognize about this team? Obviously seeding will eventually come out. What do you want people to know about this team, specifically when you start talking about seeding purposes?

YOLETT McPHEE-McCUIN: Well, yeah, when I turned the TV on and I saw us with the other teams, and I remember they had all kind of polls. We weren't mentioned in any. As far as they're concerned, we weren't even supposed to be here, you know?

I was just filled with pride because my goal is to win a national championship. In order to do that, you got to go to the Elite Eight and Final Four, and I hadn't done that yet.

I think about when I'm in the Sweet 16, you know what that means? That means there are 16 teams remaining in the country out of 300 and some of. We have 16 teams in the conference, and we were one of four that played the last day before the -- in the semifinals in the best league in the country arguably.

That's something to be said. So if we can do that after going on a four-game skid, after losing a player -- we did this all with one of our starters being out, and she'll be back, okay? I probably could have played her today, but it wasn't worth it, right? She'll be back.

I think people, after seeing what we did to Auburn, seeing what we did to Vandy, seeing how we crawl back in this game -- and like you all said, the game was closer than the end score. If people watched it, it was very competitive. It was a two-point game. We're going to be a tough out. We're going to be a tough out.

Coach Vic said that, and I told him -- so y'all have to ask him when he has his presser, because I told him to make sure he said that in front of y'all, all the good things he said to me in the handshake line.

We're going to be competitive. We're going to defend, and we're going to represent the conference and our university at a high level. Anything outside of that, I can't control, you know? No use of me making this grand speech. The committee is going to do their best job, and then we'll deal with the cards that we're dealt.