Yolett McPhee-McCuin starts her next Ole Miss roster build by retaining Sira Thienou

In the world of NIL and the transfer portal every coach in nearly every sport is having to re-recruit their players, every offseason. This is no different at Ole Miss and the women’s basketball program.

On Wednesday the roster build for the 2026-27 season got off to a nice start with Ole Miss announcing sophomore guard Sira Thienou will return for her third year in Oxford.

Thienou, a rising junior, experienced some ups and downs her in her second year. She missed the final five games of the regular season plus two games in the Southeastern Conference tournament dealing with a knee injury. She returned for the two NCAA Tournament games against Gonzaga and Minnesota.

Prior to the season ending prematurely for the Rebels in the second round loss to the Gophers on March 22, Yolett McPhee-McCuin was already working to ensure Thienou would be part of her ninth season as the Ole Miss head coach.

“yeah, we already had our meeting with Sira for next year,” McCuin said. “That is one of the things we talked about. She has to be, talking about two Cotie (McMahons). How about two Siras? She’s going to be that one. She knows that. She will be ready to step in that. She has blossomed so much in the little time. She’s only a sophomore. She’s way ahead of any of my sophomores that I’ve ever coached going into her junior campaign. …Really excited about her having a great offseason and building her. That is the goal. The goal is to build around Sira so that we can continue to move on and even be better in the future.”

This season Theinou finished as the Rebels fouth-best scorer despite missing seven games, averaging 9.7 points per game. She also averaged 5.7 rebounds and had 67 assists to go with 48 steals.

Theinou is one player that is returning for next season but Ole Miss is losing a lot of production with the departures of Cotie McMahon and Christeen Iwuala, both who should get looks at the WNBA. McMahon is mocked for a potential first round selection in this month’s WNBA Draft.

One player that is not returning that could is J’Adore Young who is hitting the transfer portal after three seasons with the Rebels. Young was a redshirt sophomore and averaged 1.6 points and 1.4 rebounds in 29 games played this season. She started in one game.

The basketball transfer portal opens on April 6 for 15 days. Look for McCuin to once again go heavy in the portal but also keep her roster around the 10 to 12 player range similar to this season.