STARKVILLE – Something was missing for Mississippi State women’s basketball in its win over UL Monroe on Monday.
At times, there was a lack of intensity, but the Bulldogs typically responded with a good run out of halftime. A 13-0 run established the gap that would carry to the finish line, but there was still a hiccup in the fourth quarter where they hit a lull and the visitors started firing again.
MSU played a pretty clean game, shooting 10-12 from the foul line and 41% from the floor, but the team again missed on layups, going 11-22, and turned the ball over 5 18 times.
The Bulldogs improved to 7-1 with the 66-54 win, extending their winning streak to three games since the road loss to Texas Tech, but head coach Sam Purcell was not happy after the game. For him, there is plenty more to work on from the recent stretch of games, and a lot of growth that needs to happen ahead of the SEC/ACC challenge next week when MSU hosts Pitt at The Hump on Thursday.
“(ULM) have been winning by 20-25, and have a style that makes it ugly. I let my team know you’ve got to be prepared for four quarters,” Purcell said in his opening statement after the game. “So, to be able to come home and find a win is great, but for those who showed up tonight saw I’m trying to let my team figure it out. Didn’t call a timeout in the first quarter on purpose because we’re in that stage right now, we’re in the airplane in the air, but we’ve got to build it as we go.”
MSU got another night of Favour Nwaedozi leading the team in scoring with 13 points. Kharyssa Richardson provided 11 points off the bench, hitting on all seven of her trips to the free throw line, and Jaylah Lampley added another 10 from the rotation. Destiney McPhaul and Trayanna Crisp both added nine, with Madison Francis scoring eight along with a team-best 13 rebounds.
Overall, the performance was enough to win, but that wasn’t good enough for Purcell, and it’s more of what he has seen over the last week.
“There’s things that will be great on film, some great lessons for my young ladies. We got to practice two days ago, where we did not practice well,” he said. “Sent them home, came back later that afternoon, and did it again. You could see it on the wall. I’ve got to do a better job coaching them and challenging them. I need seniors to step up, and then we’ve got to make sure, as good as November was, we’ve got to find a way to get better in December, because that’s what college basketball is about.”
The discontent was palpable in Purcell’s post-game media availability, and he was asked to expand on his diagnosis of his team. In answering, he pointed to an area of the game that doesn’t always show up in the final score, especially for teams that keep winning.
“I’d say focus would be the biggest (challenge),” Purcell said. “You look at the three games prior to this, it’s some outstanding basketball. 31 (to 16) against Texas Tech in the first quarter, then the next one, Alcorn is 18-4. Then MTSU is a 10-12 point lead, and we just lose focus. Like today, I’m going to show them, we played mindless basketball at times, and I think it has a lot to do with so many new pieces that we have to take on some different roles that haven’t occurred at other places.”
Purcell cited moments in the game where the Bulldogs faced the same looks defensively three or four times in a row and ULM just kept coming and scoring. For him, the lack of focus led to the lack of recognition, and it all goes back to practice.
“You’ve got to be mindfully engaged, and things like that, where again it’s good to show that after a win, but we have to become a four-quarter team. Like I told them with what happened in practice: The game will take care of itself; our practices have to get better.”
The Bulldogs will now focus on their next opponent, Pitt, for a matchup in Starkville on Thursday at 6 p.m.
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