For as well as Destiney McPhaul has played this season, her first year at Mississippi State, the Bulldogs have learned her true worth in the games their sixth woman has missed.
McPhaul was out for a week in early December, leaving Denim DeShields to shoulder the load at point guard for MSU’s ACC-SEC Challenge game at Georgia Tech. Jerkaila Jordan paced the offense with 25 points that night in Atlanta, but DeShields was held to just five points in 33 minutes as the Bulldogs turned the ball over 17 times in a 78-75 loss, their first defeat of the year.
In her return on Dec. 14 against Belmont, McPhaul drew a foul on a last-second half-court heave in a tie game and made all three free throws as MSU pulled out a win. In Southeastern Conference play, only Jordan and Eniya Russell are scoring more than McPhaul, who has 24 assists and just 13 turnovers in seven SEC games.
With McPhaul missing Monday night’s game at Missouri due to an illness, the Bulldogs were without not only their backup point guard, but a player who can score and distribute the ball equally well. What could have been a comfortable win against an SEC bottom-feeder instead turned into a back-and-forth battle that went the Tigers’ way on a buzzer-beating jumper.
Jordan did all she could, becoming one of just 10 players in women’s college basketball this season to score 40 points in a game. But Jordan, who normally plays off the ball as a two-guard, had to share point guard duties with DeShields due to McPhaul’s absence. Perhaps that contributed to her crucial turnover on MSU’s final possession, and her fatigue likely contributed to her missing six straight free throws in the second half.
Even a McPhaul at less than full strength can help the Bulldogs as they enter the back half of the grueling SEC schedule. MSU still has four more games against ranked opponents, starting with Sunday at No. 7 LSU. Jordan and Russell may be the headliners, but McPhaul is quickly proving herself as one of the Bulldogs’ most important players — whether she’s on or off the court.
— Benjamin Rosenberg
Bulldogs show program growth in gritty road win
Everything was indicating that the Bulldogs had blown it on Saturday. South Carolina, the team they ran out of Humphrey Coliseum in the SEC opener a few weeks ago, never led in the reverse fixture, and yet they were headed to overtime against Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs let it slip in a very sloppy contest, tied 55-55 and the end of regulation. Cam Matthews would finish the game with eight turnovers and no points, RJ Melendez did not show much better with only three on the scoresheet, but the Bulldogs still found a way to win, 65-60, in Columbia.
It was the kind of game that occurred all too often a few years ago, and would result in costly defeats to keep the Bulldogs out of the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season. That was the sort of team Chris Jans inherited from Ben Howland three years ago, but it isn’t the sort of team he has had in the time since then.
Despite the worrying performance, Jans and the Bulldogs deserve credit for pulling out a win.
Riley Kugel had another nice performance after he was the hero against Ole Miss a week earlier, and though he hasn’t reached the heights of last season Josh Hubbard was close behind with an important 12 points.
These are the sort of games every good team has to endure and find a way to win, and the Bulldogs did just that to keep their hopes alive for March and pick up some momentum going into a difficult final stretch of the season.
— Colin Damms
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