The Southeastern Conference announced conference opponents for the 2022-23 women’s basketball season Wednesday, giving Mississippi State a glimpse of its first conference schedule under new head coach Sam Purcell.
The Bulldogs will face Ole Miss at home and away as usual and will have home and away games with Texas A&M and Tennessee as well. A&M has been a regularly competitive matchup for the Bulldogs over the last decade, as have the storied Lady Volunteers, the team to which former Bulldog star Rickea Jackson transferred in the spring.
The Bulldogs’ other home opponents are SEC West opponents Alabama, Arkansas and Auburn, defending SEC champion Kentucky and defending national champion South Carolina. The Gamecocks have remained a dominant program since Dawn Staley took over. They’ve played several memorable games against some strong Bulldog teams over the last several years, and the game at Humphrey Coliseum will no doubt be a challenging measurement of the team’s progress in Year 1 under Purcell.
In addition to road games against Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Tennessee, the Bulldogs will also pay visits to Florida, Georgia, LSU, Missouri and Vanderbilt next season. While they suffered home losses to each of Florida, Georgia, and LSU last season, it’s been several years since the Bulldogs lost to any of those teams on the road. Road winning streaks against Florida and LSU date back to 2016, while the Bulldogs have won in each of their last three visits to Athens.
Dates, times and TV broadcast information for SEC games have yet to be released. The announcement of Mississippi State’s full schedule, including nonconference opponents, is also pending.
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