MSU builds momentum in play lately
Mississippi State has been a team full of ups and downs all year during Sam Purcell's first season as a head coach, but the Bulldogs are hoping that the downs are starting to filter out.
The Bulldogs have been in the spot they currently sit already this year. MSU had a 12-2 start to the season before losing three-straight games to Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee. State followed that up with a three-game winning streak only to have the worst two-game stretch of the year with embarrassing losses to Ole Miss and Georgia on the road.
That seemed like the crossroads moment for Purcell's team this year and it responded last week. The Bulldogs got a monster win in double overtime at home against Tennessee and then dominated Florida on the road. It's setting up what could be a strong finish to the regular season.
“The reason that we've had failures is because I needed to shut up,” Purcell said. “I'm over-coaching. We went back to the basics. We've got to get after it defensively. Let's get back that Bulldog mojo that had us top 10 in the country in points per game and let's try to create some easy buckets off of our transition defense and I thought we did that (against Florida).”
One of MSU'S biggest reasons for success when it comes is the amount of players that can step up at any given time. Jessika Carter still leads the team with 14.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks a game, but she hasn't been her dominant self the last few games.
Stepping up to the plate has been Jerkaila Jordan, who had just 16 points combined in a three-game stretch against Kentucky, Ole Miss and Georgia. She's followed that up with back-to-back games of over 20 points. She's had 44 points on 16-of-24 shooting hitting 6-of-7 3-point field goals and pulling down 15 rebounds.
The bench has been big for State too as Denae Carter and Ramani Parker are finally healthy. Parker and Asianae Johnson specifically have been huge for State off the bench in the last two wins. With short rest after the Tennessee win on Monday and a road trip at Florida, Purcell needed his team to spread out its minutes and it worked.
“I told my team that this is not a game that I'm going to go with you for long periods,” Purcell said. “We're going to wear them out and if we can play people two and a half minutes (at a time) we're going to win this game. They bought in because they want to win.”
The challenge for MSU now is sustaining success and being the team on the ups. Texas A&M is next up for the Bulldogs on Super Bowl Sunday and the two teams square off at 2 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum on the SEC Network.
It's been a miserable season for Joni Taylor in her first year in College Station as the Aggies are 6-15 and just 1-10 in league play, but it hasn't been indicative of her team. Injuries have decimated the group and it's now getting a little more healthy. Taking No. 3 LSU to the wire last week in a 72-66 loss is proof enough.
For MSU (17-7, 6-5 SEC), a win gets them closer to the ultimate goal of making the NCAA Tournament. It feels like a must win at this stage of the season and Purcell believes his team is built to do it now.
“With the portal and everything, college athletics has changed,” Purcell said. “There is no more three or four year processes. If you go about it right, we can get kids better, we can change the culture and I think we're doing that in year one.”