Mississippi State women's basketball fights for growth amid SEC gauntlet

In the current landscape of college sports where rosters change by the year, coaches and players are still learning about each other even by the middle of the year.

Sam Purcell is going through this with his own team in year three as the coach put together a roster with just three returning contributors from last season. It’s made for some frustrating times during this year, but also some moments of joy.

This past week spoke volumes to the Mississippi State coach as he watched his team work. Following two tough losses to Tennessee and Ole Miss where the Bulldogs didn’t take care of themselves in defeat, practices were all about the players being accountable to each other.

Senior transfer Chandler Prater was one example the coach gave of a player hitting the gym with intentions to get better. After one practice, she came up to the coach to deliver a hug and tell him how great a day of work it was. It all led to a 96-56 bounce back blowout over Auburn on Thursday.

“I just think they’re winners. I love this group. I’m trying to find the answers,” Purcell said. “We lost two games and our kids are celebrating great practices. It’s just great to see the results take care of themselves. If you put in the work great things happen and those kids have the juice.”

Bulldogs rediscovering edge with grit, accountability

In a league like the SEC, it’s a delicate landmine to navigate. State (16-5, 3-4 SEC) played murder’s row in the first six ball games with matchups against No. 2 South Carolina, No. 11 Kentucky, No. 15 Oklahoma, No. 17 Tennessee and an Ole Miss team on the verge of the top 25.

In addition, State has beaten a previously ranked Utah team while the only non-conference loss came on the road at No. 18 Georgia Tech by three points. It’s been important for players like Prater to maintain their composure and not let a snowball effect come into play and she was one that answered the call on Thursday with 13 points off the bench.

“It’s really an everyday grind. This is the type of league where we have top tier competition almost every night,” Prater said. “It comes from practice to when we’re together and being all in. We need each other because it can be a hard league and not everybody is going to have their best night. Just staying together and leaning on our coaching staff to lead us in the right way is going to take us where we need to go.

“We really have a gritty persona about us. Right now I feel like we’d like to see us bring that every day regardless of opponent. No more losing streaks.”

Postseason projections from ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Crème have had the Bulldogs firmly in the tournament all season long and they remain there this week as a projected No. 8 seed. However, the Bulldogs were in a similar position last season.

It was actually an even better start last year as State was 7-3 in conference play with a favorable setup for a top 4 finish in the SEC before the bottom fell out. The Bulldogs lost six of the final seven games: missing out on the NCAA Tournament entirely.

It’s created a cautious head coach as Purcell doesn’t want to go down that road again. His team travels to last place Missouri on Monday night (7 p.m. SEC Network) and can get back to .500 in the league with a manageable back half of the schedule.

“I better do a heck of a job as the leader of this team to let them know how pissed I was last year,” Purcell stated. “That stinks for those kids that we were one game short from making back-to-back NCAA trips. My energy is going to stay on the gas. I’m just trying to help them keep the blinders on and stay focused.

“If we come in happy that we won and we go up there (to Missouri) and we don’t practice well, we’re not going to learn from last year. That’s where I hope we grow.”