Larry Vickers’ first year as Auburn women’s basketball head coach came to a fitting end Thursday night as the Tigers fell 73-57 to Ole Miss in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
The Tigers were once again dominated from start to finish, with tonight marking their 11th loss in the last 13 games.
Ole Miss got off to a blazing start opening the evening on an 19-3 run, with Christeen Iwuala recording 10 points out of the gate. The senior finished the ball game with a team-high 18 points and nine rebounds.
“They kind of stuck it to us in the first five minutes,” Vickers said. “We didn’t do a very good job responding to the ball pressure. We knew coming in that we wanted to own the first quarter, and we knew the physical style of basketball that they play. We didn’t rise to the challenge early into the basketball game.”
Auburn was outmatched in almost every aspect of the game. However, they forced 22 Rebels turnovers but were unable to cash in, only recording 16 points off those turnovers.
Khady Leye did all she could offensively for the orange and blue, recording 17 points on 38% shooting, but her supporting cast didn’t bring the same intensity. The Louga, Senegal, native finished with 28 points and 23 rebounds in two postseason games.
“We’ve got to play hard from the start until the end,” Leye said. “We cannot wait until the second half to start playing hard. We’ve got to bring that dog mentality from the start and carry it out to the end.”
The Tigers’ leading scorer coming into tonight, Harissoum Coulibaly, had a quiet game, posting zero points and only two shot attempts. The freshman from Paris, France, recorded three assists.
The Rebels were unguardable all night, finishing 52.8% shooting from the field and 53.8% from behind the arc. Vickers’ squad would have trouble beating any team when the opposition is shooting like that.
Auburn went into halftime trailing 48-20, but they didn’t go down without a fight, cutting the Rebels’ lead to 12 in the fourth quarter, but ultimately it was too little, too late.
“I was happy with the second half as far as the way we responded,” Vickers said. “I felt like we did a good job fighting back and competing. We want to exit this tournament with our head up.”
This concludes a rough first season on the Plains for Vickers and his staff. The Tigers finished with a 15-17 record and a 3-13 mark in SEC play.
The attention now turns to the transfer portal as Vickers looks to continue to build his program in hopes of bringing Auburn back to the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. His predecessor, Johnnie Harris, brought the Tigers to the First Four in 2023, but Vickers has his eyes on establishing dominance.
Coach Larry Vickers watches from the sidelines during a game against Tennessee on Jan. 4, 2026.
“Depth is so important in this league,” Vickers said. “Concern number one is to try to get deeper going into next year. We have to get a lot bigger. We want to get deeper. We want to add some more talent on the perimeter. We’re just going to start from day one and push the buttons on the things that we need to fix because this league is super tough.”
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
Rory is a sophomore majoring in journalism sports production. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @RorymGarvin
