Mississippi State picked up its first win at the Southeastern Conference tournament since 2020 on Wednesday, taking down Missouri 75-55 with a remarkable second half turnaround. Head coach Sam Purcell saw his team lose in upset fashion in each of his first two seasons and the Tigers looked primed to make it three early exits in a row. 

The Tigers hit five shots from beyond the arc in the first half and were 8-8 from the free-throw line to establish a 39-32 lead at the break. The Bulldogs turned the ball over nine times in the first half and shot just 39.4% from the field. They had trouble finding buckets outside of JerKaila Jordan, who had 14 of the team’s 32 first-half points.

Purcell likes to say, “Talk to me nice,” when he suspects someone is underestimating his team, but he recognized the need for urgency in the second half. 

“Oh, I lit a fire,” Purcell said on the post-game SEC Network broadcast. “There wasn’t ‘talking nice’ at halftime.” 

The fire did the job, and the Bulldogs responded with a fiery defensive effort. 

The Tigers extended their lead at the start of the second half, but the Bulldogs responded with a 24-1 run. They held Mizzou scoreless for more than seven minutes and led 56-47 going into the fourth.

Destiney McPhaul hit a buzzer-beater three-point shot to end the third quarter, and the Bulldog bench celebrated as though they’d already won. 

The run extended to 31 straight points before Mizzou answered, but by then, the Bulldogs had a 21-point lead. McPhaul kept her hot streak going as well and finished the game with 19 points, 16 in the second half, but she left the court in some pain after landing awkwardly on her ankle in the final minute. 

Along with McPhaul’s lights-out second half, Jordan kept up her offensive presence, Eniya Russell found a shot, and most importantly, the whole team defended with an intensity they were lacking in the first half. 

Tigers guard Ashton Judd led her team with 15 points but was held scoreless by the Bulldogs in the second half. Collectively, Mizzou shot 6-31 from the field in the final two quarters, just 1-11 from beyond the arc.

“I feel like when we picked it up on the defensive end, it translated to offense,” Russell said of the second-half run. “You get those steals, it fuels us a lot. We were scrambling, communicating. We were getting on the defensive end, and it translated to offense. So definitely our defense helps our offense.”

Center Madina Okot, who had 12 points herself, played vital defense with two early fouls and grabbed eight boards. 

“She has a nose for the ball, and this is a young lady who hasn’t been playing basketball very long who is blowing up in front of our eyes,” Purcell said. “Her presence, ability to play at a high speed for the entire quarter. Most kids can’t stay out there the whole time, but she can. Kudos to her and the rest of the team for having the attitude not to lose tonight.”

The first win in the SEC tournament for Purcell was an important mark for the head coach in Year 3. Jordan, a player who was there every step of the way, gave credit to her coach as well as her teammates for the turnaround. 

“He’s just a coach that wants the best for us,” Jordan said. “He’s a very passionate guy. He came into the locker room with a lot of passion. I think we felt it. He can’t get on the court for us, all we can do is bring that passion on the court.”