STARKVILLE — Mississippi State women’s basketball learned its Southeastern Conference opponents for the 2025-26 season, a slate that once again features matchups against some of the strongest teams in the country.
Since expanding to 16 teams, the SEC women’s basketball schedule format has changed to include just one home-and-home series matchup, while the remaining 14 games are against the rest of the conference. The 2026 schedule will set the Bulldogs up with two games against powerhouse Tennessee, the only double matchup with the new scheduling format
Like last season, the 2026 conference schedule features only one matchup with in-state rivals Ole Miss, a road trip to Oxford after hosting the matchup in Starkville last season.
“It’s great for the fans, but the SEC is so loaded,” Purcell said when asked if he would like to play Ole Miss twice again. “I think it’s great because we rotate partners, like this year, I get Tennessee twice. Tennessee is absolutely loaded, that could be a Final Four team, so the opportunity to play them twice excites me.”
Along with the Volunteers, the other SEC teams traveling to face the Bulldogs in Starkville next year are Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri and Vanderbilt. In addition to the Oxford road game, the Bulldogs will go on the road to face Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Oklahoma. State will also travel to Fayetteville to take on Arkansas and College Station to face Texas A&M next year.
Despite the lone regular-season meeting, the Bulldogs did wind up playing Ole Miss twice last season, losing to their rivals in the second round of the SEC Tournament in March.
Purcell is 1-5 against the school up north, and this year will carry a little extra weight with former Bulldogs Debreasha Powe and Denim Deshields swapping sides with former Rebel Kharyssa Richardson in the transfer portal.
Both Powe and Deshields were regular contributors last season, but there were no hard feelings from Purcell, especially for Powe, who was his first phone call after taking the job in 2022.
“I wish them the best, and Powe is always going to be a Bulldog,” he said. “She graduated from here, she graduated in three years, and just like any other kid you’re thankful for the time here and you wish them nothing but the best.”
Purcell wasn’t too hung up on the new schedule format halving the opportunities to play Ole Miss, especially after the teams met again in the postseason anyway.
“I don’t really get caught up, usually you’re probably going to play someone twice, like Ole Miss, like we did last year in the SEC Tournament,” he said. “We’re different than football in other sports, so those things kind of just take care of themselves.”
The Bulldogs have not released the entire non-conference schedule, but in addition to an ACC/SEC matchup with Pitt, the Bulldogs will travel to the Emerald Coast Classic in Destin, Fla., along with Middle Tennessee, Providence and Alcorn State. The mini-tournament will take place the week of Thanksgiving, Nov. 24 and 25.
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