Ole Miss Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin Explains One-Point Loss to Alabama

No. 13 Ole Miss came up just one point short in a road loss to No. 21 Alabama.

In a one-point loss, there are always going be plenty of things to point at and say that’s why the losing team lost. For Ole Miss, free throws will be one of the biggest reasons, but also some questionable officiating in the game’s final minute.

Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin did her best to explain what happened in the loss, pointing to missed opportunities, emphasizing execution at the free-throw line and the challenge of winning away from home. Here’s what she said following the game as Ole Miss enters its second bye week.

On team’s energy level after long road trip…

I mean, it is what it is. We’ve been on the road for nine days, but we still had a lot of opportunities to win the game. And when you’re on the road, you can’t leave it in the hands of the officials.

On team showing composure, maturity late in the game…

Yeah, I was proud of them. We did what we were supposed to do on that last play. The ball was supposed to go to Christeen, but (Latasha Lattimore) must have seen a read, so the timing was a little bit off. Christeen was supposed to get the ball. But nevertheless, that’s life on the road.

On missed free throws…

I just think when you’re on the road, you’ve got to make free throws and layups. And we didn’t make free throws tonight. In spite of the questionable call at the end — and there was a missed call on the play before the last play that they hadn’t called all night — you can’t miss free throws. When they finally did call it, it was a blocking call. You just can’t miss free throws. That was disappointing, because we needed every single one of them.

On team’s upcoming bye week…

We could definitely use it, because we just haven’t been home. But we really wanted to win this one. We didn’t want to have any excuses. We wanted to win it, and I hate that it ended like this. At the end of the day, our goal is to go as far as we can in the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. We’ve got a very difficult, very challenging road ahead. After the Arkansas game, I think we play four games in eight days. Hopefully our crowd will come out, support us, and will us to a win when we really need it at home.