When the noise gets loud outside the locker room, the real message often comes from within. The No. 17-ranked Ole Miss Rebels’ head coach, Yolett McPhee-McCuin, better known as Coach Yo, has been a focal point of backlash these past few days. Yet amid the criticism, the loudest show of support for her came from inside her own program.

Following the Rebels’ 74–57 loss to the No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats, Coach Yo remarked that she sometimes wishes the SEC didn’t have a conference tournament because “all we do in the SEC is beat each other up.” While she later clarified that her point centered on postseason positioning rather than whitewashing her loss, the comments quickly became a talking point.

But the Rebels’ senior forward Cotie McMahon, who has been in the spotlight herself after dropping her season-best 39 points against the No. 21 Tennessee Lady Volunteers, made her stance on the coach clear. McMahon once called Coach Yo “the queen of the misunderstood.” And if you’re wondering what she meant? Her latest remarks left little room for interpretation.

“I feel like she just uses her voice a lot, and I feel like what she’s been through,” she said on SportsCenter on February 20. “She came from nothing and is very successful. And not only that, she’s a black woman and from the Bahamas. So it’s very rare for her to even do what she’s accomplished and continue to accomplish. But I feel like she’s just very misunderstood. I feel like not many people really understand where she comes from, but her heart is just so pure and so big, and she really cares for us and really fights for us.”

In a week where the Rebels are navigating one of the toughest stretches of their season, facing four straight Top 25 opponents in Kentucky, No. 21 Tennessee, No. 7 LSU, and No. 3 South Carolina, Cotie McMahon’s words carried weight beyond the social media discourse.

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Out of the four games where the Rebels have to play high-ranked teams back-to-back, they have already lost one of them and won another. But even then, McMahon understands that this conference offers no nights off; she sees the grind as something far bigger.

“The SEC alone isn’t easy. I feel like every game is a battle. But this week, especially, what we have been going through, I feel like is only preparing us to just learn and understand how the tournament is gonna be. To just understand how our bodies are gonna be feeling and how we have to kinda push through and push past our capacity. But I think this is good for us, I think this is great for us,” Cotie McMahon added.

For McMahon, the physical toll and back-to-back challenges aren’t setbacks; they’re a learning opportunity, the kind that mirrors conference tournament play, where recovery windows shrink, and intensity rises with every possession.

However, learning only matters if it translates. And the good news is – this team won’t have to wait long to find out what they have picked up so far.

What’s next for Yolett McPhee-McCuin and the Rebels?

The Ole Miss Rebels currently sit at 21-6 overall and 8-4 in the Southeastern Conference. But if anything, the Rebels remain firmly in the thick of the SEC conversation.

Their latest test against the No. 7-ranked LSU Tigers is already unfolding as expected: intense and tightly contested. Though the Tigers jumped ahead 26–21 in the opening quarter, as each minute passes by, the game is only getting into a nip-and-tuck battle

For a team averaging 77.5 points per game while holding opponents to just 58.7, the Rebels have built their identity on efficient offense paired with suffocating defense.

However, their identity test is far from over.

Once the final buzzer sounds against LSU, there will be a little time for them to reset. Because the Rebels will turn their attention to the No. 3-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks on February 22nd. But after that, only two more regular-season games stand between Ole Miss and postseason play.

But so far, if this stretch has revealed anything about Ole Miss, it’s that the Rebels’ mindset hasn’t wavered, no matter what the outside world says.