Coach Yo Reveals Strategy, 'Depth' For Rebels' Round 2 NCAA Tournament Game vs. Notre Dame

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin recently discussed her team's strategy and focus on depth ahead of their matchup against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Ole Miss Rebels have their sights set on their Round 2 game of the NCAA Tournament against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin discussed her team's preparation for the game on Sunday.

During her media availability, Coach Yo was asked about Monday's second round game being a "game of attrition," and she believes that her team's style of play lends it well to a contest like this one.

"We try to wear everybody down, no matter what," McPhee-McCuin said. "That is our style of play: 94 feet, like I said yesterday, it seemed like Marquette was in charge of the pace, but really they weren't because that's not how they play.

"So what we try to do is make teams adjust to how we play, which is up and down, fast, and really make you have to work for every single bucket that you get. I think naturally it wears teams down. We've played some really elite-level three-point shooting teams, and as you could see last night, they just didn't have the legs when they really needed it, and that is because of the work we put in the first 30 minutes of the game."

Notre Dame enters Monday's game as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and Ole Miss carries the mark of a seven-seed. Still, that's not unfamiliar territory for McPhee-McCuin who helped take down No. 1 seed Stanford in last year's tournament.

The head coach was asked if it "would mean a lot" to take down the Irish on Monday, but she emphasized that every win is an important one, especially at this time of year. What makes those wins possible, however, is good roster depth.

"Yeah, first of all, anytime you get to win another game, it's a big deal," McPhee-McCuin said. "I think the committee has done a great job with getting the best teams in the field, and so the fact that we're one of the 32 remaining, it means something.

"As far as the experience, hopefully it does work out for us, but as you can see, we rely on a bunch of different players throughout the course of the game. I don't think our depth is talked about a lot because maybe all their numbers don't show up in the box score, but anytime that you can have people play minutes and it not hurt you, that is depth. I don't care if the score is the same when they got in to when they left. The fact that they weren't in the negative is key."

Ole Miss and Notre Dame are scheduled for a 1 p.m. CT tip-off on Monday, and the game will be televised on ESPN.