Turnovers plaguing Mississippi State as Bulldogs seek redemption against Auburn
Sam Purcell has felt frustrations in recent weeks about what his basketball team could be if it took care of its own mistakes. The frustrations felt by the coach and team have also resonated within the Mississippi State fanbase as the Bulldogs gave up leads in games to South Carolina, Ole Miss and Tennessee only to come away with losses.
The culprit every time has been State’s lack of ball security. In all three losses, the Bulldogs turned the ball over 20 or more times and gave up 23 or more points off of those turnovers. It’s been a worry for Purcell since day one with his team, but it has yet to be corrected.
“When you give other teams opportunities with points off turnovers, those have been the dagger for us,” Purcell said. “Can we simplify the playbook? What can we do passing wise to stop some of this? It’s not as simple as one thing. We’re trying to show them how great a team we can be, but when we have these losses, it’s us turning over the ball.”
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The lack of security with the basketball has led the Bulldogs to a 2-4 start in SEC play with State losing three of those games to top 20 teams and another to rival Ole Miss on Sunday.
The good news for State is that this week brings two of the bottom three teams in the league to the schedule. The bad news is that Thursday’s opponent in Auburn thrives in disrupting on the defensive end.
Former Bulldog assistant Johnnie Harris comes back to familiar territory on Thursday night for a 6:30 p.m. showdown. Auburn (10-9, 1-5 SEC) is looking for back-to-back SEC wins after knocking off Missouri last week.
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“Auburn gets after it and are going to force a lot of turnovers,” Purcell said. “She’s been committed to getting after it with denial defense and picking you up in full court. They play hard and because they play hard, she’s in position night in and night out.”
Auburn is led by former State signee and Texas transfer DeYona Gaston who has racked up 21.4 points per game and 7.7 rebounds to lead the way. The Tigers lost a huge piece early in the year when Arkansas transfer Taliah Scott went down with an injury and hasn’t returned since after averaging over 20 points per game in the first three contests. Outside of Gaston, it’s been difficult for Auburn to find consistent scorers.
MSU has had a little more balance on offense with Jerkaila Jordan averaging 15.8 points and 6.2 rebounds, Eniya Russell 13.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists and Madina Okot 11.4 points and 9.1 rebounds. The quality depth that Purcell has had with his team has been a plus, as has the moments when they have protected the ball.
They’ll need to do it on Thursday to get back in the win column.
“There’s moments where we do share the ball,” Purcell said. “We’re moving, we’re cutting and we’re being unselfish and when we play like that, we can make big time shots. My team shows up, we just have to show up for four quarters.”
Thursday night’s ball game can be seen by fans on SEC Network +.
