Cotie McMahon wanted more — Mississippi gave her the ball and the fire

McMahon — an Ohio State transfer — arrived at Mississippi as a proven name. In The Buckeye State, she was a high school phenom before becoming a household name under head coach Kevin McGuff, helping anchor the Buckeyes for three seasons. She’s experienced some of the highs most players dream of with Big Ten regular-season titles, deep women’s NCAA tournament runs and battles against some of the sport’s brightest young stars like Caitlin Clark and Kiki Iriafen, now shining on the WNBA stage.

Yet, somewhere between the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight run, McMahon felt a pull toward something more. More challenge. More responsibility, more evolution. Leaving Ohio meant leaving comfort and rhythm of a winning program, even the winter snow that defined Januaries back home. But now, 17 games into the season, McMahon has discovered a new layer in her game. She’s being challenged not just to score or defend at an elite level, but to lead. To be a presence her teammates can follow as a point guard for Mississippi, a position she was unfamiliar with prior to joining the program and playing for Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin.

“I never had to do that [point guard], even when I first started playing basketball,” McMahon told The IX Basketball. “It’s a great opportunity because the ball is literally in my hands. I can create for [my teammates], for myself. But sometimes, I can be too passive in passing up on a shot I should’ve taken or making a mistake and committing a turnover. 

Everything is so new but I’ve gotten comfortable with being uncomfortable,” McMahon continued. “This is why I came here. I feel like this is the most fun I’ve had just playing basketball, being around the right people. My spark is definitely back.”

McMahon’s minutes may look slightly different, but the impact has only grown. She’s on the floor a little less than she was at Ohio State — even while still leading No. 18 Mississippi (14-3) in minutes — yet her presence has never been louder. Possession by possession, she’s producing the most efficient and complete basketball of her career — nearly 19 points a night. With more shots, more makes, and more trips to the free-throw line, she’s shooting nearly 49 percent from the floor, her best mark since her freshman season. Her double-digit scoring and eight 20-point eruptions this season place her in rare company, matching Nikki Byrd’s program mark and evoking memories of Angel Baker’s scoring runs just a few seasons ago.

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But McMahon’s dominance is woven into the larger rise of a Mississippi team that surged through non-conference play, stacking 13 wins — more than any team in the program has managed this century. Still, McMahon knows better than anyone that banners aren’t hung in January. The real proving ground has arrived with SEC play, where every night brings a new heavyweight opponent. Mississippi has already felt the sting most recently in Sunday’s three-point road blemish against No. 2 Texas, a reminder that the margin for error only shrinks as the season deepens. 

For a Mississippi team with nine newcomers, eight transfers, one freshman and just three returning players, the growing pains are real. McMahon understands that. But she also knows that it’s really about who Mississippi becomes by February and March. It’s about growth, chemistry and resilience. 

“We have to match her Cotie [McMahon] energy,” Mississippi forward Christeen Iwuala told The IX Basketball. “She wants to win and she’s going to showcase it action wise. She’s vocal and she’s going to tell us where we need to be.”

But for McMahon, her leadership begins long before she attacks downhill, rises for a clutch jumper or threads a pass to her teammates. It starts in the quiet, unseen work. 

Long after a game has ended, McPhee-McCuin is often still awake. It’s not unusual to find her alone in her office well past 10:30 at night, rewinding film from a loss, dissecting possessions frame by frame. She studies the spacing, the timing, the decisions. And sometimes, she reaches out. On one of those nights earlier this season, McPhee-McCuin sent McMahon a text, a simple question about her decision-making on a single play. McMahon’s response came quickly.

“Where are you at?” McMahon asked.

When McPhee-McCuin told her she was still in the office watching film, the conversation ended there. Five minutes later, the 6-foot forward was walking through the door, settling into a chair beside her coach, eyes locked on the game film on the screen as if another game were tipping off in a matter of hours.

Those late-night film sessions weren’t an inconvenience for McMahon. After wins or losses, sleep doesn’t come easily. Even on road trips, even after long nights, McMahon heads home and re-watches the entire game, possession by possession. She studies where things broke down, where she could have shifted the outcome, where one decision might have changed everything.

“No matter how late we get home, even if it’s an away trip, I go home and rewatch the whole game,” McMahon said. “I want to see how things broke down — things I could have done to avoid us losing a game, or just dissecting my mistakes. It’s my normal routine. I am big on that and my preparation.”

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Mississippi assistant Jacob Whitehead, who often texts with McMahon right after games, concurs: “She wants to understand where she goes wrong so that she can address it.”

Sunday tested McMahon in every way. By halftime in Austin, Mississippi trailed Texas 35–21, and nothing was coming easily. McMahon managed just three points on eight shots. Even as the third quarter wound down — Mississippi staring at a 55–40 deficit and having fallen behind by as many as 19 — McMahon sat at seven points and a dismal two made field goals.

Then the fourth quarter arrived. And with it, McMahon’s response.

She attacked with purpose, finding space where there had been none, finishing through contact, stepping confidently into shots that suddenly fell. In 10 minutes of controlled fury, she poured in 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, helping Mississippi fight back in the storm. Mississippi crept within three points as the possibility of a comeback hovered. But when the final horn sounded, Texas escaped. McMahon finished with 19 points, four rebounds and four assists in 38 relentless minutes.

Texas head coach Vic Schaefer had warned of the challenge of McMahon’s play beforehand.

“The addition of Cotie [McMahon] really gives them a scorer,” he said. “Somebody that can break you down, create her own shot, play multiple positions. That’s problematic.”

Even in Mississippi’s defeat, that truth rang loud. Still, the loss offered something more valuable than the win/loss column. It revealed the growth that’s still needed, shown in the moments where McMahon pressed too hard, wanting the win so much she tried to carry it alone.

After the game, McMahon did what she always does. She went back to the film.

“This is a game that Cotie really wanted to win,” McPhee-McCuin said. “She wants to win so bad, and sometimes she’ll try to do it by herself. That makes her easy to guard. I told her after halftime: play, let me coach, share the ball and trust your teammates. I thought she started to do that. … The margin of error against a team like Texas is this small.”

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Those lessons matter now more than ever. Mississippi heads back on the road to face No. 5 Oklahoma, a team riding a 13-game winning streak and one of the most imposing home-court environments in the country. It will be Mississippi’s first trip to Norman since 2022, and history hasn’t been kind. The Sooners have won the last three meetings, with Mississippi’s last victory coming nearly two decades ago in a Sweet 16 classic powered by Armintie Price.

An upset inside Lloyd Noble Center won’t come easily. It will demand growth, trust and poise under pressure. And a leader willing to embrace the grind as the team continues to discover who it is.

“I know coach is going to tell me what I need to hear,” McMahon told The IX Basketball. “She’s going to rip me up in practice, give me teachable moments and uplift me. There’s more pressure here [at Mississippi] — and that’s a privilege. I have a lot of decisions to make, and I can’t take days off.

“There are things I didn’t even know I could do. She puts the ball in my hands to make big plays, and sometimes I’ve never been in those positions before. But she’s pushing me, and I know it’s going to make me and this team better.”

Her teammates see it, too.

“When the pressure gets tighter, she just rises up to the challenge, and that helps everybody,” Mississippi guard and forward Debreasha Powe told The IX Basketball.

This is the core of McMahon’s journey at Mississippi. Not comfort. Not ease. But pressure — embraced, demanded and answered. She came to be tested. And with every possession, every late-night film session, and every hard-earned lesson McMahon is proving she belongs right in the fire, the place where she wants to be.

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