STARKVILLE — Matt Insell and the Ole Miss women’s basketball team don’t want anything to do with moral victories.

Coming off a victory against Tennessee that snapped a 28-game losing streak in that series, Insell is fired up about his team, and has been all season. The fourth-year coach believes in his Rebels and feels — to coin a phrase the program has used all season — it’s time for them to take the next step and return to the NCAA tournament.

Insell made sure everyone knew he felt that way Monday night following a 73-62 loss to No. 4 Mississippi State before a crowd of 8,840 at Humphrey Coliseum.

Insell wasn’t content to talk about how the Rebels (13-5, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) held the Bulldogs (19-0, 5-0) to 38.7-percent shooting or outscored them 34-24 in the paint. While he did like how Ole Miss shot 10 of 15 from the field in the fourth quarter (12 of 23 in the second half) and outscored MSU 26-6 off the bench, Insell lamented a slow start that saw MSU take a 22-8 lead after 10 minutes.

“The first quarter really killed us,” Insell said. “When you get yourself in a hole against a team that is ranked fourth or fifth in the country, you can’t do that.”

The win was the sixth in a row in the series for MSU, which set a program record for wins to start a season. Last season, MSU beat Ole Miss 79-51 in Starkville and 60-51 in Oxford. Insell said Monday night his team has made progress considering it was “embarrassed” by the result in Starkville. Playing without transfer Chrishae Rowe (illness) and with center Taylor Manuel (four points in 25 minutes) and Shandricka Sessom (team-high 16 points and nine rebounds) saddled with early foul trouble, the Rebels never could dig themselves out of the early hole, even if they frustrated the Bulldogs with their defense and never went away.

“Did we play them close? Absolutely,” Insell said. “Did we see some things in it? Yeah, but we’re upset we lost the basketball game. In our locker room right now, we have kids who are hurting and mad because we know we made some mistakes in the first half, in particular in the first quarter. … We know what we did wrong.”

Ole Miss also limited MSU centers Chinwe Okorie and Teaira McCowan to two field goals and nine points. Okorie and McCowan combined for a season-high 38 points Thursday in an 82-49 victory against Florida. The Rebels had success with a sagging zone defense that used size in front of and behind the Bulldogs’ post players.

“I think we have a really good team,” Insell said. “I listened to Vic’s press conference the other day and nobody really asked him a question about our team, or what can Ole Miss do to you to hurt you. I think Ole Miss is pretty good. Do I take satisfaction (from the fact that it held MSU’s post players to two field goals)? No. We got beat. Did I think we upset Tennessee last Thursday? Absolutely not. I thought the better team won the game. Tonight, I thought Mississippi State was better than us on this given night and beat us.

“I think we’ve got a really good team. I think I have some really good players. Do we have a top-five team in the country? No, but I think we are a dangerous team, and if you catch us on a given night we can beat anybody. We make some plays, we can do some things. Do I think we are an NCAA tournament team? Absolutely I do.”

Sophomore point guard Alissa Alston matched a season high with 14 points. She epitomized the Rebels’ tenacity with her drives to the basket and penetration that created openings for teammates. But Ole Miss hurt itself with 22 turnovers, which was the fifth time this season it has had 20 or more turnovers in a game.

“I feel like we need to keep on the same path we’re going,” Alston said. “In practice, he is on us about toughness and just playing hard. I don’t really think we have to change anything. We just have to change our focus, at times.”

MSU built an 18-4 lead in the first quarter and never trailed. The lead grew to as many as 17 points in the second and third quarters and 22 early in the fourth quarter, but Ole Miss hung around and had a chance to cut the deficit into single digits with less than two minutes to play. The comeback didn’t provide much solace to Insell, who credited MSU coach Vic Schaefer and the Bulldogs for the atmosphere in the Hump. He said the Rebels are trying to build the same kind of energy and Oxford, and he hopes to have plenty of support from his fans when the teams meet again at 3 p.m. Feb. 12 at The Pavilion at Ole Miss.

That game will be part of a three-game homestand, and a run of four of five at home, that could determine if Ole Miss will make its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2006-07. Ole Miss advanced to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament in Insell’s second season (2014-15), but it slipped to 10-20 last season.

This season, Ole Miss has a signature victory against Oregon to go with its victory against Tennessee. Insell said his team has stayed focused through a stretch to open SEC play that has included four road games, including two at top-10 opponents. Ole Miss ends that run at 6 p.m. Thursday (SEC Network) when it plays at No. 5 South Carolina.

Ole Miss entered the game against MSU with a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of 99, according to RealTimeRPI.com. Insell said that number, which is used by the NCAA tournament selection committee as a factor to help determine the 64-team field, isn’t an end all and be all for the Rebels. He said Ole Miss has plenty of games remaining on its schedule that will help it build its resume and make its case that it belongs in the NCAA tournament. Until the teams are announced in March, Insell, Alston, and the Rebels will keep fighting to make their case.

“We’re upset we lost because we came here to win. We didn’t come here for a moral victory or to play Mississippi State close,” Insell said. “(Last year against MSU in Starkville), the crowd was eating doughnut bacon cheeseburgers by the end of the first quarter. They got to get those doughnut bacon cheeseburgers for $7, but they had to cough a little bit on them because we played tonight. I think we have got a good team and we’ll get better from this.”

Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor

Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.