Mississippi State and head coach Chris Jans received another blow on Wednesday when forward KeShawn Murphy, who averaged 11.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in 2024-25, announced that he is entering the transfer portal.
Murphy redshirted his true freshman season in 2021-22 due to injuries, then made 19 appearances off the bench the following year. As a redshirt sophomore, he was on track to have his best season yet, but was away from the team for a month for personal reasons, then gave the Bulldogs a much-needed burst of energy upon his return. He entered the transfer portal last spring but opted to return to MSU.
“My decision to come back was a home thing,” Murphy said at the time. “I missed the fans. I just can’t let y’all go. This is my home, this is where I belong, and I don’t want to let that go.”
Despite starting just three of 34 games, Murphy had a career year this past winter, finishing second on the Bulldogs in scoring and leading MSU in rebounding. He played the third-most minutes on the team and made 56.6 percent of his field goal attempts. He also led the team with 38 blocked shots.
The Bulldogs have already lost Cameron Matthews, Claudell Harris and RJ Melendez, who are out of eligibility, and Riley Kugel, Michael Nwoko and Kanye Clary have all left in the portal. Top scorer Josh Hubbard has entered the NBA Draft while maintaining his eligibility, so his decision for next year is still pending. That leaves only Shawn Jones Jr. returning among MSU’s rotation players, with Dellquan Warren primed for a larger role as a sophomore.
DeShields also in portal
Last offseason, Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell had to rebuild most of his roster through the transfer portal, and with the losses the Bulldogs have sustained early this spring, he will have to do so again this year.
Starting point guard Denim DeShields became the latest MSU player to enter the portal Tuesday evening. The junior spent her first two college seasons at Alabama-Birmingham and started all 34 games for the Bulldogs in 2024-25, averaging 5.7 points and 3.2 assists per game. Turnovers were an issue for DeShields and several of her teammates, as she committed 90 of them including 13 games with at least four.
DeShields comes from a big family of professional athletes. Her father, Delino DeShields, and brother, Delino DeShields Jr., both played in Major League Baseball. Her older sister, Diamond DeShields, was a basketball star at North Carolina and Tennessee and currently plays in the WNBA for the Connecticut Sun.
With DeShields out the door, MSU has lost all five of its most-used starters to either graduation or the portal. Jerkaila Jordan and Eniya Russell are out of eligibility, and Debreasha Powe and Madina Okot have also opted to transfer.
That leaves backup point guard and sixth woman Destiney McPhaul, veteran wing Chandler Prater and reserve post player Quanirah Montague as the Bulldogs’ only returners. Center Rocío Jiménez has been with MSU for two years but has not yet played due to injuries.
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