The Mississippi State women’s basketball team was at home while the men’s team was far from it, but both sets of Bulldogs prevailed regardless on Friday night.
The MSU women whipped North Alabama 77-40 at Humphrey Coliseum, and the men defeated Akron 73-54 in the Barstool Sports Invitational in Philadelphia. Both teams are now 2-0.
JerKaila Jordan led the Bulldogs women with 17 points and Jessika Carter added 15 as the women’s team jumped out to a big early lead.
MSU scored 27 points in the first quarter, tripling the Lions’ total, and coasted from there.
“I saw a lot of great things,” first-year coach Sam Purcell said. “Film is going to be the best thing tomorrow.”
At the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, another first-year MSU coach watched his team shine.
Chris Jans’ team responded after Akron — trailing all game — seized a one-point lead. The Bulldogs promptly went on a 21-5 run.
“I thought that was the best part of the game in the end — (when) we faced some adversity with the score again,” Jans said. “(When that happened, our) huddles were good. They were tighter. Guys were starting to say the right things to one another about sticking together and sticking to the plan and taking it one possession at a time and that was a good sign. I thought the response from the guys on the floor once they made that run and we found ourselves down was really, really good and was probably my favorite part of the night.”
Tolu Smith had a team-high 26 points, and D.J. Jeffries added 15.
The MSU men will host Arkansas–Pine Bluff (1-2) at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Golden Lions lost by just one point at TCU, beat non-NCAA foe Champion Christian 87-55 on Wednesday and hung with Oklahoma on Friday in a 66-58 loss.
The women travel to South Dakota State at 6 p.m. Monday, and they’ll have to wait until Friday to return home. When they play in Humphrey Coliseum again, they’ll see a new jersey hanging in the rafters.
LaToya Thomas’ No. 32 was retired Friday night. Thomas played for MSU from 1999-2003 and spent six seasons in the WNBA.
She became the first Mississippi State female athlete to have her jersey commemorated.
“It means a lot now,” Thomas said. “At first, I was numb about it. Today I woke up with a lot of anxiety, a lot of nerves. So, it really feels good. I’m never the one to brag about what I do or what I accomplish; I always give the credit to my team, because without them I wouldn’t be here. It felt great to represent them, to represent this university and to represent my hometown of Greenville.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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