Coming off a tough loss against Norfolk State, the Auburn Tigers Women’s basketball team has a chance to get its first-ranked win against the No.25 Ole Miss Rebels.
The Rebels boast a 9-3 record with losses to No.3 USC, No.2 UConn and NC State. They have been perfect at home this season but have struggled a bit on the road, going 2-3 away from Oxford.
Ole Miss has built its team through defense, having the number one scoring defense in the entire NCAA, allowing only 46.7 points per game. Their defense has led to the Rebels having the fifth-best scoring margin in the country at 33.2.
As a team, the Rebels average 12.9 steals a game along with 6.2 blocks, placing them 15th and ninth, respectively, in the country.
The Rebels' offense is not far behind the defense, scoring 79.9 points per game, placing them 31st in the country.
Four players average double figures for the Rebels with another three players contributing over 6.5 points per game, as they boast a pretty balanced offense with no one player having to carry the load night to night.
The main players to watch out for on the offensive end are freshman guard Sira Thienou, senior guard Kennedy Todd-Williams, senior guard/forward Madison Scott and senior forward Starr Jacobs.
Theinou leads the team in scoring at 12.3 points a night, 5.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and a team-leading 2.3 steals on 55.7 percent from the field and 48.1 percent from behind the arc.
Todd-Williams is the team's second-leading scorer at 11.3 points per game, along with 5.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and over a block and steal a night.
Scott is the team leader in shot blocking and assists with 1.3 blocks and 3.8 assists, adding 10.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals a night.
Starr leads the team in rebounds per game with 6.3, along with 10.4 points, 1 assist and 1.9 steals a night.
Despite their good defense thus far, the Rebels have been mediocre in rebounding the basketball, ranking 44th in the country at 41.5 a night.
Auburn’s rebounding this season has been extremely poor. The Tigers rank 177th in the country at 37.2 a game, which makes them one of the lower Power-four teams.
The Tigers will have the size advantage in the matchup, with four players over 6-feet-4, while the Rebels only have one player of that size.
The Tigers will need to use their size advantage to even out the rebound disadvantage to create second opportunities against the best defense in the country.
The game is scheduled to tip off on January 2nd at 6 p.m. CT. at Neville arena and will be streamed on SEC Network +.
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Luke McClure is a senior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in sports production. He joined The Plainsman in fall 2023.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @lukemcclure0
