Mississippi State Women's Basketball Falls at Auburn for its Fifth-Straight Loss
Over the last few weeks, Mississippi State women's basketball has spiraled completely out of control. The Bulldogs lost 77-60 to the Auburn Tigers at Neville Arena Thursday night. The loss was the fifth-straight on the season for Coach Sam Purcell's team, who have now fallen to 20-10 overall and 7-8 in SEC play.
Mississippi State had its worst offensive performance since early January. The Bulldogs shot just 32% from the field and 25% from three. State had only nine assists in the game, and they committed an abysmal 17 turnovers. Those turnovers led to 25 points for the Tigers, the difference in the game.
Jessika Carter and Jerkaila Jordan were the only Bulldogs in double figures with 16 and 12, respectively. Neither shot the ball well, however. Carter was 6-16, and Jordan was 4-17 and 0-5 from three.
The Tigers didn't have the greatest offensive day, shooting 43% from the floor, but they were 38% from behind the arc with eight made threes. They did a great job capitalizing on the aforementioned Mississippi State turnovers and had 19 second-chance points. Honesty Scott-Grayson had a massive day for Auburn. The sixth-year senior guard went off for 32 points in 32 minutes of game time. McKenna Eddings was also in double-figures with 13 off the bench.
Mississippi State women's basketball's season has fallen apart down the stretch
After starting the season 20-5, Mississippi State has experienced a monumental collapse. As Robbie Faulk of On3 noted, the Bulldogs have been largely uncompetitive throughout this losing streak despite multiple games against lesser-competition
MSU going to lose its first game against Auburn in women's hoops in the last 12 tries.
— Robbie Faulk (@robbiefaulkOn3) March 1, 2024
State has lost five-straight games since winning five in a row. Four of those have been by double digits with three against teams with losing SEC records.
Faulk also noted that this was MSU's first loss to Auburn in their last 12 meetings. It's probably fitting that the loss would come against former Bulldog assistant Johnnie Harris. And give Coach Harris credit. She's done a remarkable job turning around the Auburn program since leaving Mississippi State.
Head Coach Sam Purcell no-shows postgame radio interview
It seems this losing streak is wearing on Sam Purcell. Mississippi State's head coach did not appear for his regular postgame radio interview following the loss to Auburn. Former Mississippi State women's basketball SID Brock Turnipseed, who would have plenty of experience with how that should be handled, was critical of the move. It's certainly not a great look by Purcell.
I don’t care the result, you’re paid a lot of money to coach so you do the postgame radio interview. That’s a bad look.
— Brock Turnipseed 🏴☠️ (@brocktseed) March 1, 2024
Mississippi State women's basketball must win its regular season finale against Missouri
There are plenty of questions about Mississippi State women's basketball at the moment as to why things have fallen apart, and that's impossible to answer. But what there is zero question about is that they absolutely must win their regular season finale against Missouri.
Though State was still a 9-seed in the latest bracketology, Thursday's loss likely means the Bulldogs are on the verge of falling completely out of the NCAA Tournament, and Missouri is a bad team at just 11-17 on the season. Losing to Mizzou would be totally devastating and would leave State's tournament hopes in the hands of conference tournament results. They need the win to have any realistic shot at dancing.
Mississippi State's matchup with Missouri will come Sunday at 2:00 pm CT in Starkville.
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