Bulldogs land top 25 transfer portal player in Kentucky's Eniya Russell
Mississippi State women’s basketball got its first transfer portal addition of the year on Monday as the Bulldogs landed former Kentucky standout Eniya Russell.
Fresh off of a visit to Starkville over the weekend, Russell starts what Sam Purcell is hoping is a strong transfer portal haul. The talented former Wildcats player was UK’s most valuable bench player this past season.
Russell is ranked as the No. 21 player in the transfer portal according to Charlie Crème of ESPN.com.
As a senior, Russell played in 32 games this past year in Lexington with two starts and she averaged 10.1 points and made 41.2% of her shots while hitting 69% of her free throws, pulling down 3.6 rebounds and dishing out 1.5 assists per game.
Against the Bulldogs this past season, Russell was an issue. She scored 15 points in an overtime loss against State at Rupp arena as she made 7-of-14 shots. In game two at Humphrey Coliseum, Russell had 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds as she helped her team to a 78-68 upset.
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Russell scored 20 or more points four times this past season including a career-high 24 points in a 81-77 win over Florida.
Prior to last season, Russell averaged 3.7 points per game in 23 games with the Wildcats. She played her first two seasons with South Carolina and was on the National Championship team in 2021-22 averaging 2.3 points a contest. She averaged 2.7 as a freshman for Dawn Staley in 26 games off of the bench.
Russell was the No. 43 player nationally by ESPNW coming out of Baltimore, Md. In 2020 and was a McDonald’s All-American. She was on the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro team for her final two seasons of high school basketball.
The talented 6-0 guard is a big domino for Purcell and his staff as they’re working to restructure the roster. The Bulldogs are thin in numbers but have possibilities coming down the road with former LSU and Louisville star Hailey Van Lith on the table after her visit this past weekend as well as former Penn State standout Leilani Kapinus.
State is also expected to host visitors this weekend.
