Ole Miss women’s basketball played two games last week and won both of them by a combined 97 points.
However, it wasn’t enough to keep the Rebels from dropping one spot in the latest AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll. (The coaches’ poll had not been released at the time of this writing.)
Ole Miss (12-1) was ranked No. 15 in Monday’s updated poll. The drop in the rankings likely wasn’t because of anything Ole Miss did or didn’t do.
Louisville recorded a blowout win of Tennessee, 89-65, on Saturday. It was an impressive enough performance for the Cardinals to jump up three spots to No. 13.
But even with that taken into consideration, the drop is still questionable. Kentucky and Vanderbilt each moved up one spot to No. 11 and No. 12, respectively as a result of Iowa’s 90-64 loss to No. 1 UConn.
The Rebels will have a chance to show the AP voters the error of their ways Monday night. Ole Miss is set to face No. 24 Michigan State in the championship game of the Cherokee Invitational at 6:30 p.m.
“I expect (Michigan State) to be aggressive and be disciplined as far as boxing us out and that kind of stuff,” Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said after beating Old Dominion 86-57 on Sunday. “We’re gonna have to earn our stops. We’re gonna have to earn this win. (We’ve played) two ranked teams, we’ve already played a ranked team in Notre Dame and this time it’s at a neutral court. So, this is definitely the test we need going into conference play.”
“We watched their game, and from what we saw, we expect them to respond and keep coming,” Ole Miss forward Latasha Lattimore said. “They look like a team that’s going to clap back every time and we’re a team that can do that too.
“We’re not scared. We’re ready. Tonight is about taking care of our bodies and being mentally prepared to leave everything on the floor tomorrow. It’s going to be a great game. They have players who can do a lot of things, and so do we. We’re all looking forward to it.”
AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll
- UConn 12-0
- Texas 14-0
- South Carolina 12-1
- UCLA 11-1
- LSU 13-0
- Michigan 10-1
- Maryland 13-0
- TCU 13-0
- Oklahoma 11-1
- Iowa State 13-0
- Kentucky 12-1
- Vanderbilt 12-0
- Louisville 12-3
- Iowa 10-2
- Ole Miss 12-1
- North Carolina 11-3
- USC 9-3
- Notre Dame 9-2
- Ohio State 10-1
- Nebraska 12-0
- Texas Tech 14-0
- Baylor 11-3
- Tennessee 7-3
- Michigan State 10-1
- Princeton 11-1
Others receiving votes: Oklahoma St. 37, Alabama 26, Stanford 21, Georgia 20, Washington 17, NC State 12, Arizona St. 7, Illinois 4, Oregon 3, BYU 1.
