State program gets a boost with the signing of Jordan
to play for the Bulldogs. (Photo by Tony Gutierrez, AP)
Mississippi State women’s basketball has been in a free fall desperate for some good news, and they got it on Wednesday.
Following a tough start to the week with transfers from Madison Hayes and Aliyah Matharu on consecutive days, Nikki Mccraypenson helped her 2021-22 roster by landing one of the top freshmen in the country.
Tulane’s American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year Jerkaila Jordan signed with Bulldog program after leaving the Green Wave following a huge first year because she wanted to play for a bigger conference.
Jordan entered the transfer portal just last Saturday after a stellar first season in college basketball. In year one, the John Curtis (La.) alum was the team’s leading scorer at 16.7 points a game, adding 3.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals a game. She was the unanimous Freshman of the Year in the AAC and first-team All-conference right away
as she made a major impact for the Green Wave.
“The first reason for the decision was that my mom was moving back to Houston and wanted me to get out of New Orleans,” Jordan said. “I also played against an SEC school in Ole Miss in my last game and I saw how competitive they were. It made me even more confident. I know that I can do the same exact things at Mississippi State that I did at Tulane.”
On the way to a trip to the WNIT and a 18-9 record, Jordan had some impressive performances. She scored 20 or more points in 10 games this season. In two games against top 25 South Florida, Jordan had 29 and 22 points. Against another NCAA Tournament team in Georgia Tech, she scored 18 points and against one of the SEC’S better defensive teams in Ole Miss, Jackson finished her freshman season with 21 points in the WNIT.
The New Orleans native finished the season shooting 48% from the field, 37% from 3-point range and was 71% from the free-throw line. This year, she set a conference record with her seven AAC Freshman of the Week honors. She now will have a chance to get another freshman season in the SEC this year as she joins the
Bulldogs this summer.
In high school at John Curtis, Jordan played for and won four-straight state championships and was selected the Most Valuable Player every year. She averaged 17 points, 4.2 rebounds, three assists and two steals a game as a junior and followed that up by becoming the Gatorade Player of the Year and Miss Basketball in Louisiana her senior year after scoring 23 points, pulling down 5.2 rebounds and dishing out 3.4 assists a game her final year on campus. She scored 2,000 points in her career.
“I feel like what I do best is score on all three levels,” Jordan said of her game. “My go-to is driving to the goal and getting to the rim, but I still have the midrange shot or 3-point shot. I always have a counter move when they took that away. I feel like I can definitely improve in the SEC on defense. I’ve got to be able to defend full court and this summer we’re going to work on that with coach Mccray.”
Jordan reported that she announced her decision at 3 p.m. last week and had phone calls from coaches around the country by 4 p.m. She chose the Bulldogs over interest from Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, LSU, Alabama, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and others. The difference in her decision came down to Mccraypenson.
“Coach Mccray sewed it up for me,” Jordan said. “When I spoke on the phone with her, she expressed to me how much she wanted to win and so did I. They didn’t make the NCAA Tournament this year, so she wanted to put together a team that wanted to be there. We want to get better and are both blue collar, so I felt like I could relate to her.”
Over the last few weeks, MSU has lost six players from the current roster as Jamya Mingo-young, Matharu, Sidney Cooks, Xaria Wiggins, Yemiyah Morris and Hayes have all announced their decisions to transfer. The addition of Jordan gets the Bulldogs eight current roster members with three more freshmen expected to arrive this summer. That leaves four more spots to fill for MSU from the transfer portal.
While times are tough right now, Jordan is confident that the Bulldogs are about to climb back up from the mat.
“I actually watched some of their games so I’m familiar with some of the players like Rickea Jackson,” Jordan said. “I like her game a lot and I saw (Jasmine Shavers) play in the summer and she’s a really good player. I feel like this year was an eye opener for them, but she knows what she’s doing and can get some pieces together. We’re going to be in the NCAA Tournament next year without a doubt in my mind.”