Basketball season has officially come to an end in Starkville. After an impressive first round showing to defeat Cal on Saturday, Mississippi State women's basketball found themselves on the wrong end of a blowout late Monday night in Los Angeles.
The 9-seed Bulldogs were totally outclassed by the 1-seed USC Trojans in a 96-59 defeat. Mississippi State got off to a horrific start, trailing 11-0 early. And even when Trojans megastar JuJu Watkins went down with a nasty injury midway through the first quarter, USC was able to only further pour it on against MSU. They'd lead 50-27 at the break and push that margin out to as much as 46 late in the game.
Simply put, USC outmatched MSU in every facet. The Bulldogs end their season 22-12.
The Trojan defense had the Mississippi State offense in turmoil
USC is an elite defensive team, and that showed against MSU. The Bulldogs looked completely frazzled offensively almost the entire night. They shot just 31% from the floor, went 3-11 from three, and turned the ball over 20 times. The Trojans swarmed State, giving them very few clear looks throughout the game. And the disruption caused to the Bulldog offense only got the Bulldogs out of position even more defensively.
USC's size advantage was too much for the Bulldogs to deal with
Among the most notable things in this matchup was how much bigger USC was than Mississippi State. The Trojans had more height and more length at practically every spot but center, and MSU could not handle it. It's a big reason why the Trojan defense was able to lock State down, and it allowed USC's players to win one-on-one against the Bulldogs offensively. This is a case where, even with a cleaner effort, the physical advantage was too much to overcome.
Uncompetitive loss to USC shows how far Mississippi State still has to go
Even without JuJu Watkins, there's no shame in losing to USC by a substantial margin (putting it lightly). State was on the road against one of the nation's very best teams, and things just snowballed. It was a bit disheartening to see them get off to such a poor start considering that having a great effort in big games has been a positive under Sam Purcell, but overall this doesn't make the season an unsuccessful one.
That being said, this was a great example of how far Mississippi State still has to go if they hope to get back to being a contending program in women's basketball. The talent level was simply incomparable between these teams, and USC is maximizing what they have. Purcell has begun to show his ability to acquire talent, but it's going to take a big leap forward on the recruiting trail and on the court to get the Bulldogs back into the national conversation.