STARKVILLE — After two blowout losses against ranked teams to open Southeastern Conference play, Mississippi State finds itself in an all-too-familiar position.
The Bulldogs also dropped their first two SEC games last season, but they played their best basketball of the season over the following month. MSU won seven of its next eight, highlighted by a victory over a top-10 LSU team in front of a sellout crowd at Humphrey Coliseum.
Thursday night presents the Bulldogs (13-3, 0-2 SEC) with another opportunity at home against a top-10 team, SEC newcomer Oklahoma, and MSU is already running out of time to get its season back on track. ESPN’s Charlie Creme has the Bulldogs as a 9-seed in his latest bracket projections, but MSU will have to prove it can beat quality opponents to remain in the projected field.
“You always feel confident about turnarounds,” head coach Sam Purcell said Wednesday. “Every game is a marathon; it’s not a sprint. It’s all about staying focused and staying the course on the next opponent. We work way too hard to come in here and think anything else but to win.”
It is hard to see a turnaround happening without junior sharpshooter Debreasha Powe regaining her stroke. Powe missed the Bulldogs’ final two non-conference games with a foot injury, and in two games since returning, she is just 1-for-10 from the field.
Prior to the injury, Powe was shooting 46.8 percent from 3-point range, but without Powe at her best, opposing defenses can afford to overplay the paint area.
“She’s been one of the best 3-point shooters in the country for two years now,” Purcell said. “It’s only a matter of time. We’ve rested her because we need her in the SEC, so she’s had a longer break than most kids with the Christmas break. A lot of that is just playing, getting in game rhythm.”
Scouting Oklahoma
The No. 10 Sooners (13-2, 1-1) won the last two Big 12 regular-season titles before joining the SEC. Oklahoma dropped its first conference game at home to No. 5 Texas, then squeaked out a one-point road win Sunday over No. 15 Tennessee.
One of four SEC teams averaging at least 90 points per game, the Sooners lead the nation in rebounding, pulling down nearly 50 boards per game. But turnovers have been an even bigger problem for Oklahoma than for MSU — the Sooners have turned the ball over 19 times per game, the most in the SEC.
“It’s going to be a fun game for our fans,” Purcell said. “I have a lot of respect for Oklahoma and their coach, Jennie (Baranczyk). She’s a winner. They have a lot of returned experience from a championship pedigree that they already have in their culture, and then they went out in the portal and signed the number one portal post (player) in the country.”
That post player Purcell mentioned is Oregon State transfer Raegan Beers, who averages 17.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while ranking third in the country in field goal percentage (Bulldogs center Madina Okot is still first). Payton Verhulst leads the way in the backcourt with 14.3 points and nearly four assists per game, while Sahara Williams and Skylar Vann also average double-figure scoring.
Point guard Nevaeh Tot rounds out the starting lineup, and sixth woman Lexy Keys shoots 45.6 percent from distance.
“They want to make it ugly on defense. Their bigs don’t come out of the paint. They’re going to make you shoot 15-footers and make 3s, so this is going to be a game where we need to make shots,” Purcell said. “We have to be tough and physical. I can’t say enough about their center, Beers. She is strong, she’s physical, she can score with two feet. She’s going to work you for 30 seconds on the shot clock, and because of her effort, everybody else gets to eat.”
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