STARKVILLE — After Mississippi State allowed last-place Missouri to make nine of its first 10 shots and score 20 points in the first five minutes Sunday, Bulldogs head coach Sam Purcell tore into his team in the huddle during the first media timeout.
“It was a lot of cussing,” grad transfer point guard Lauren Park-Lane said following MSU’s 90-75 victory. “We know we have to just play better. We had to play harder and play for each other and everything was going to work itself out. That was basically the gist of what he said.”
Park-Lane’s comment drew laughter from teammates Jerkaila Jordan and Darrione Rogers, suggesting that perhaps Purcell said some other things that could not be repeated in public. But the Bulldogs (21-10, 8-8 Southeastern Conference) did settle down, play good perimeter defense and explode offensively in the second half to snap a five-game losing streak heading into the SEC Tournament.
That skid, which immediately followed a five-game winning streak, saw MSU blow late fourth-quarter leads against Ole Miss and Kentucky and suffer a 20-point home loss to an inferior Florida team. It took the Bulldogs from a near lock for the NCAA Tournament to dangerous bubble territory — ESPN’s Charlie Creme has MSU as one of the last four teams in the field as of Tuesday morning.
Purcell pointed out Tuesday that an SEC team with at least 20 wins and a .500 record in conference play has never been left out of the Big Dance.
“When you leave (the decision) in the hands of other people, I’m never excited,” Purcell said. “There’s no guarantees. I love Charlie Creme, but his bracketology is not the ultimate say. It’s a room of people. I hope they’re really watching us, the talent that I have.”
Throughout the losing streak, which ended after back-to-back double-digit losses at Alabama and Auburn, Purcell said his approach as a coach never wavered. Jordan — who, along with center Jessika Carter, was named to the All-SEC Second Team on Tuesday — battled an illness throughout much of February but was back to full strength when she bailed out the Bulldogs with 18 third-quarter points in Sunday’s win.
Key to keeping his team focused, Purcell said, was trying to get his players to shut down any and all outside noise.
“Everybody talks about, ‘Oh, Vegas has got y’all down,’” Purcell said. “Well, I know I live in StarkVegas, and I have a locker room full of kids who believe. … When you lose five straight, you don’t win that first half, there could be like, ‘Here we go again.’ But my kids were like, ‘No, we’re going to win this game.’ And that’s what makes me feel really good about going into the SEC (Tournament), because their mind and most importantly their heart is in the right spot.”
Scouting Texas A&M
No. 8 seed MSU will face the No. 9 seed Aggies (18-11, 6-10) in the second round of the conference tournament in Greenville, S.C. on Thursday. The Bulldogs defeated Texas A&M 74-63 on the road on Feb. 4, a game in which MSU trailed 11-2 after four minutes before taking control. Erynn Barnum led the way with 22 points, Rogers added 18 and Jordan had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Aggies reeled off back-to-back road wins after that loss, including a very impressive 19-point win at Ole Miss, but with star point guard Endyia Rogers undergoing knee surgery after an injury on Feb. 11, Texas A&M lost five of six games to finish out the regular season.
“It’s funny how our seasons are very similar,” Purcell said. “When you watch them on film, just like you watch us, you know the talent’s there. You know what they’re capable of. They have a lot of big-time players.”
Rogers was the Aggies’ leading scorer with 12.8 points per game, also dishing out just over four assists per contest. Auburn transfer Aicha Coulibaly and post player Janiah Barker are scoring threats as well, but Texas A&M has relied primarily on defense and rebounding all year long.
Only undefeated and top-ranked South Carolina allows fewer points per game among SEC teams than the Aggies, who have the conference’s third-best field goal percentage defense and are also the third-best offensive rebounding team in the league. Keeping opponents off the offensive glass was an issue during the Bulldogs’ skid, so Carter and Barnum will need to limit Texas A&M’s second-chance opportunities.
“We’ve done a great job these last two days trying to really dial in and put a great scout together, mix up some things that we didn’t necessarily do the last time,” Purcell said. “Let’s see if we can’t try to find a way to steal one here in March.”
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