Mississippi State basketball: Sam Purcell proud despite loss to Miami
By Ethan Lee
Even though his Mississippi State basketball team lost to the Miami Hurricanes, Sam Purcell is proud of what he saw Wednesday evening.
For the first time this season, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team fell short and suffered a loss. Shorthanded and limited due to injuries and illnesses, the Mississippi State Bulldogs did a surprisingly solid job of going toe-to-toe with Miami. And though it didn’t work out in the end, Purcell still had plenty of praise for the effort his team displayed.
In his postgame media session, Purcell made it clear that he was proud of how the Bulldogs performed, even despite the loss.
“As crazy as this sounds, first and foremost, I’m a proud coach,” Purcell explained.
He continued on, noting that the Bulldogs have shown a lot of dedication and tenacity in recent outings.
“For us to have a week like we just did down in Houston, the three straight games, which I told the media ‘I’m going to find a lot out about my team’ alright. Then just find all kind of obstacles that were going to be thrown at us and I had seven kids. Seven that were in the locker room they said ‘coach give me a jersey, we’ll find a way.’ I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Purcell explained.
Mississippi State basketball: Sam Purcell praises Bulldogs after effort shown in loss to Miami
Shoutout to Mississippi State athletics for making the video available on YouTube.
The Bulldogs have got to be worn out from the week they’ve had. Between battling illness and injuries in recent games, a number of players were forced into stressful and demanding roles against a talented Miami Hurricanes team. But the Bulldogs did well. And they did well against a really good Miami team.
“I don’t want to shortchange who [Miami is] – that’s an Elite Eight program,” Purcell admitted.
Now the Bulldogs will need to move forward and find a way to get back healthy and winning. Purcell has a pretty dedicated team and he seems like a great coach to play for. It’s clear his Bulldogs are intent on competing, even in tough circumstances.