Sam Purcell deserves a lot of credit for restoring Mississippi State into a regular postseason contender immediately after taking over as head coach in 2022. But the way the 2023-24 season ended was a cause for concern that the program was in danger of backsliding.
The Bulldogs lost five straight games in February, were one and done in the Southeastern Conference Tournament and missed out on the NCAA Tournament, a year after making it out of the First Four and advancing to the second round before losing narrowly to Notre Dame. In addition to replacing three senior starters, two key bench players transferred out, and four assistant coaches were also out the door.
Purcell needed to put a staff and a team together quickly last spring. He added three assistants with prior head coaching experience in Fred Castro, Anita Howard and Samantha Williams, and over the summer he hired MSU legend Victoria Vivians, one of the greatest players in program history.
In the transfer portal, he addressed the Bulldogs’ needs at point guard with Denim DeShields and Destiney McPhaul, added help on the wings with Eniya Russell and Chandler Prater and improved MSU’s post depth with Kayla Thomas. It was a group that appeared to have much better chemistry, led by a program staple in Jerkaila Jordan, and set its sights on a return to the NCAA Tournament.
It certainly was not a perfectly constructed roster. The Bulldogs turned the ball over far too much and were prone to lengthy shooting slumps, which sometimes affected them on the defensive end. With the SEC getting even stronger due to the additions of Oklahoma and Texas, MSU regressed to 7-9 in conference play.
But this time, the Bulldogs avoided the late-season slide, won its first SEC Tournament game under Purcell and were comfortably in the NCAA Tournament field. The first-round win over California was another important step forward, even though it ended with a thud in the second round against USC.
A quick history lesson: In 2016, MSU lost to Connecticut by 60 points in the regional semifinals. The following year, the Bulldogs upset UConn in the Final Four on Morgan William’s overtime buzzer-beater.
This isn’t to say MSU is primed for a Final Four run next season, and life without Jordan will be a tough adjustment. But with the right additions out of the portal and a strong incoming freshman class, chances are good the Bulldogs will not regress this time.
— Benjamin Rosenberg
Help for Hubbard, or Hubbard, help yourself?
March Madness ends painfully for 63 out of 64 teams, it just depends on how and when. For Mississippi State, it ended in its first game for the third year in a row.
The Bulldogs had their star scorer Josh Hubbard charging forward in need of a three-pointer to tie the game in the final seconds. Hubbard handed the ball off to Claudell Harris, who was open from some distance to take the shot but saw the ball fall short of the target and bounce out of bounds.
Bulldog nation collectively reacted in the same way with the same question: Why didn’t Hubbard – a shooter majoring in hitting contested threes with the ball in his hands in “winning time” take that shot?
Hubbard typically finished the game with twice as many points as the next top Bulldog scorer, tallying 26 points while shooting 11-18 from the floor. He was the driving force giving State any hope of a win against the Bears, leading a second-half rally to get Chris Jans’ team within reach.
It’s still a frustrating end to think back on, and if Hubbard had taken the shot and missed, there may still be questions over drawing up a better play for him. Harris was at least an open option, but the reason the question persists about who takes the shot is the same reason State was in that position to begin with. MSU only has Hubbard to rely on to carry the scoring load in big games, and until there is more help, he will continually be in those positions to hit ridiculous shots and keep the Bulldogs in big games.
It’s part of the burden of being a star scorer, but it’s an improbable, if not impossible, burden with the current team makeup.
— Colin Damms
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