For the third straight year under head coach Sam Purcell, Mississippi State finds itself near the bubble with just one more week to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume.

The Bulldogs are hopeful their stay in Greenville, South Carolina, will be a little bit longer this time.

In 2023, as the No. 5 seed, MSU suffered an upset loss in its first Southeastern Conference Tournament game to 13th-seeded Texas A&M. The Aggies defeated the Bulldogs again in Greenville last year, knocking Purcell’s team out of the Big Dance. MSU can ill-afford another early exit, especially with its first-round game Wednesday against a Missouri team that is under .500 overall and does not have a Quadrant 1 win all year.

“Some coaches in my profession only bring one jacket, and they wear it every single day. I swear I’ve been bringing multiple clothes,” Purcell said. “The intent was to stay multiple days. It’s just unfortunate that we haven’t been able to get it done.”

The Bulldogs’ win at Auburn on Sunday lifted them back to a projected No. 9 seed, according to Charlie Creme of ESPN. MSU, currently No. 33 in the NET rankings, has three Quad 1 wins — a non-conference, neutral-site victory over Utah that has aged better and better as the season has progressed, as well as SEC wins over Oklahoma and at Vanderbilt.

But the Bulldogs (20-10, 7-9 SEC) are just 2-2 in Quad 2 games, a metric in which they do not compare favorably to the teams surrounding them in the NET. One of those Quad 2 losses came in late January at Missouri (14-17, 3-13).

Jerkaila Jordan, who was named to the All-SEC Second Team by the conference’s coaches Tuesday, scored a career-high 40 points that night. But without sixth woman Destiney McPhaul, who missed the game due to an illness, MSU suffered a heartbreaking one-point defeat when Grace Slaughter’s jumper over the much smaller Denim DeShields beat the buzzer.

“I’m not one to make excuses, but we went through a lot that game, so I’m eager to see how we can play fully rested,” Purcell said. “We can do some more stuff on the defensive end. Our full-court pressure has gotten a lot better since then.”

Scouting Missouri

The Tigers have played close games against some very good teams since picking up that win over the Bulldogs. They led throughout the first half at Texas, hung with ranked Tennessee and LSU squads and were one basket away from a road win over Ole Miss. Head coach Robin Pingeton, in her 15th season at Missouri, has announced that she will step down at the end of this season.

Slaughter, averaging 15.2 points per game, is the Tigers’ leading scorer, and her 31 against MSU this year represented a career high for the sophomore. She shoots 46.6 percent from 3-point range, and thanks to her and fellow sharpshooters Ashton Judd and Abby Schreacke, Missouri is second in the SEC in 3-point percentage, trailing only Alabama.

A big guard at 6 feet, 2 inches, Slaughter is actually three inches taller than Laniah Randle, who mostly plays inside as the Tigers’ leading rebounder and second-leading scorer.

“What makes Missouri so tough is they might not have the height, but they have several kids who are all the same height. They really put pressure on you and space you out,” Purcell said. “They’ve got nothing to lose with (Pingeton), who I think the world of, retiring. They can throw anything they want out of the kitchen sink, and we have to play with that same kind of mentality. We have to play loose, we have to try to jump on them early and be ready for what March is.”