Basketball is nearly back.
The 2022-23 season is less than a month away, and the Mississippi State women’s team is back in the swing of things, preparing for its first season under new head coach Sam Purcell.
Here are three takeaways from the Bulldogs’ preseason preparation after speaking with Purcell and several players Tuesday.
Energy continuing from the summer
What was present throughout availability over the summer was the infectious enthusiasm throughout the team from offseason workouts through the Bulldogs’ return for preseason preparations.
That enthusiasm has only strengthened as tipoff approaches.
“Official practices in the books, and the season is one step closer,” Purcell said to open his press conference. “I have goosebumps because that’s why I took the job, to get to November and get to this moment and most importantly get in the Hump and get this thing rocking.”
That enthusiasm was echoed by the players, who were equally excited for things to get going in the new season.
“I would say the energy has been good,” guard JerKaila Jordan said. “We’ve been working on bonding and like Sam said, starting practice off right, so everyday I try to come with the energy, and my teammates bring the energy as well.”
“We’re meshing on the court; off the court it’s like family,” St. Bonaventure transfer guard Asianae Johnson said. “The drills and workouts, obviously we amp each other up when someone makes a shot, takes a shot, it doesn’t matter. So yeah, good things.”
Johnson and Florida State transfer guard Kourtney Weber both valued the time they had as graduate transfers arriving soon after committing and joining the team early in the summer. It gave them more time to acclimate with their new teammates as well as be there basically from the start of the Purcell era.
Weber said as much when asked if the early arrival helped.
“Yeah of course,” she said. “Especially with like, a lot of new players, a whole new coaching staff, I think just the time is what’s kind of brought us together, time to get to know each other. Having faith and trusting each other, so yeah, that time was actually very beneficial.”
In practice Tuesday, the team started off with intense drills running closeout defense, full-court transition play and shooting competitions with a running clock. There was a focus on high intensity and creating the right environment for preparing for the season. That intensity has maintained throughout breaks and time off, and that’s just what the head coach wants going into the season.
“I could not be more proud of our group right now,” Purcell said. “The energy we’ve got in the room and the team that we’re trying to create right now as we’re a couple weeks out from the first game. They’re hungry and they’re excited for what we’re doing, and each day we’re getting better. I’m excited because we have some closed scrimmages that are coming up so we can see what things we are doing well, what things we need to clean up before the first game, and then it’s time to buckle up and let’s have one fun ride.”
Updates on return to action
In September came the unfortunate news that guard Aislynn Hayes would be out for the season with a shoulder injury suffered over the summer, but both forward Denae Carter and center Jessika Carter are fortunately back and putting the work in to return to action.
Jessika Carter missed the 2021-22 campaign for mental health reasons and has been allowed to take her time with her return, but she’s been a full participant in practice and has her head coach raving about her.
“Well I hope she loves me, because I’ve been telling the team to get her the ball!” Purcell said.
“I think our relationship is pretty good, I think she’s adapted well, but a lot of this I’m not going to know until the lights come out. But there’s been a focus within our offense to make sure she gets touches. I told her for me it’s more than me just calling her number, and that’s been my challenge.”
When asked if she’s in a place with her conditioning to contribute at that level, Purcell pointed to the importance of their upcoming scrimmages as a way of finding out. Either way, Purcell’s comments indicate that the Georgia native is a big part of his plans.
Denae Carter, meanwhile, isn’t back to full strength yet. Carter suffered a torn ACL midseason against Texas A&M and was out for several months with rehab and workouts before she was able to return to full practice in the last month or so.
Purcell has taken care with her return and stressed the importance of patience both for her contributions to the team and her expectations for herself as she continues to work to make a full recovery.
“Like any kid who has that first-time injury, it’s me talking to her just like, ‘Let it come back at the right time,’” Purcell said. “You’ve got to learn to run again; even though you know how to play basketball, there’s that moment like, ‘I’ve been off, why is my leg not moving like it used to? Why am I kicking it off my foot?’ And I told her like the rest of the team, I’m not getting onto her. For the first two months she can have 22 turnovers in practice and not make one shot, because all I want her to do is have fun right now. Get the enjoyment back in the game, then after about two months we’ll worry about those turnovers.”
Purcell also noted that it hasn’t been easy for Carter to get in that mindset for her recovery simply because she’s such a competitor and “she hates failure,” but for now, Purcell is focused on letting her take things step by step to “get back to who she is.”
Sights set on NCAA tournament return
A consistent message from Purcell and the team has been consistent with the wants and needs of every Bulldog fan. Their goal is to get the team back to where it belongs: competing for Southeastern Conference and NCAA titles.
While it’s important to note that Purcell wasn’t ready to put a label on their expectations for this season specifically, he has never shied away from the expectations in general for the future of the program.
“It’s one of the main reasons I took this job, that again women’s basketball matters in this community, it matters in this state,” Purcell said after expressing what it will mean to him to step out onto the court for the first time as head coach. “The people before me did an unbelievable job putting it on the map, and let’s get all that energy back because that’s the expectation I have for this program.”
The players were more direct with their expectations for this season, showing self belief.
A simple “yes” from Jordan gave a quick answer to a question posed about the team’s ability to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019. Johnson chimed in soon after, smiling and stating: “Man, we’re the dream team.”
Weber gave a more detailed answer, specifically focusing on the mindset of the players and staff.
“We practice every day with a top-25 mentality,” Weber said. “Especially Coach Sam, coming from one of those programs. We practice with intensity every day to get Mississippi State back there.”
The players also talked about the introduction of Final Four Fridays over the summer, where the players would put in work in the gym to try and cover the distance it takes to get from Starkville to the Final Four in Dallas, Texas, a trip of about 533 miles from Humphrey Coliseum.
Coincidentally, Dallas is where Mississippi State made its first-ever Final Four appearance in 2017, famously ending UConn’s 111-game winning streak with Morgan William’s buzzer beater. The team is very aware of that recent history and the weight of it in the program, but Purcell was quick to bring the focus back to the present when discussing history’s role in expectations for the team. They want to get back to the top, but it takes more than awareness to make that happen.
“I love that they have that mindset. That’s why they came here. I’m not dumb,” Purcell said of the program’s achievements in the recent past and its weight on the current team. “That’s why I came here, but at the same time my job is to make sure we win the day. Whereas their job, it’s good that they have goals for deeper things than just today.”
The Bulldogs will take the court for the first time under Purcell against Mississippi Valley State at Humphrey Coliseum at 7 p.m. Nov. 9.
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