SEC standings after Mississippi State women's basketball toppled No. 9 LSU Tigers

After taking down the No. 9 LSU Tigers, here's where the Mississippi State women's basketball team sits in the SEC basketball standings.
Jan 7, 2024; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Sam Purcell
Jan 7, 2024; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Sam Purcell / Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports
facebooktwitterreddit

After taking down the No. 9 LSU Tigers, Sam Purcell and the Mississippi State women's basketball team have proven that they can contend with (and take down) some of the most talented teams in the country. Beating Kim Mulkey and the defending national champs showed that Purcell's Bulldogs might just be pretty good.

Mississippi State needed this sort of win. In front of a crowded Humphrey Coliseum, Purcell got the biggest win of his head coaching career up to this point. This sort of victory can help show Mississippi State basketball fans that the Bulldogs might truly be getting closer to returning the program to the sort of shape it was in when Vic Schaefer left Starkville.

It also demonstrated to the rest of the Southeastern Conference that Mississippi State has the potential to be a real threat, even amongst the top programs in the SEC.

Prior to that win, Mississippi State had lost to South Carolina (the top team in the SEC at the moment), Tennessee (the No. 3 team in the SEC right now), and Vanderbilt (currently the No. 5 team in the SEC). By beating LSU, MSU is now sitting at No. 6 in the SEC standings with wins over Ole Miss (No. 2 in SEC standings) and LSU (No. 4 in SEC standings).

Here's how the teams stack up after games played so far:

SEC women's basketball standings, 1/31/24

  • South Carolina Gamecocks (7-0, 19-0)
  • Ole Miss Rebels (5-2, 15-5)
  • Tennessee Lady Vols (5-2, 12-7)
  • LSU Tigers (5-3, 18-4)
  • Vanderbilt Commodores (4-3, 17-4)
  • Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-3, 17-5)
  • Arkansas Razorbacks (4-3, 16-6)
  • Texas A&M Aggies (3-4, 15-5)
  • Alabama Crimson Tide (3-4, 16-6)
  • Auburn Tigers (3-4, 14-6)
  • Florida Gators (2-5, 11-8)
  • Kentucky Wildcats (2-5, 9-12)
  • Missouri Tigers (2-6, 11-10)
  • Georgia Bulldogs (1-6, 10-10)

All things considered and when considering the teams the Bulldogs have played, that's a pretty good spot for the Mississippi State women's basketball team to be in at this point in the season. It remains to be seen how far Purcell can take this team, but in year two of a rebuild project, that's solid. He's right in the midst of the SEC standings and has several winnable games up ahead.