South Carolina women’s basketball traveled to Starkville and defeated the Bulldogs 95-68. Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell spoke to the media following the matchup.

Here’s everything he had to say.

What went wrong for Mississippi State midway through the second and into the third?

“I think it started with, you know, sometimes the whistle goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. And I think we had zero whistle calls for us in the second quarter. They had several. So then the game started slowing down. They got to the line, and then you can’t have seven turnovers in one quarter. We talked about that. We value the ball. We know we’ve done so good, but we just had some dagger turnovers that allowed them to get some easy transition opportunities. And then the next thing you know, I think with three minutes or 330 if I can recall correctly, in the second quarter. Now, they got the lead for the first time, and then that’s where the momentum changed.”

[Join GamecockCentral: $1 for 7 days]

What do you think is missing from this team overall?

“I don’t think there’s really anything missing. I really think you showed in the first quarter, when you get 22 to 13 to me, on the number one team in the country that you have the pieces. Now, it’s just making sure that they handle it all right. And this was my thing. I was writing my, you know, I was doing radio is you got to, you got to make sure that, you know what, how we handle, we learn from this, you know, you know, defines our next mindset, who we can become as a team, just focusing on self-improvement. If I can make sure each one and I got the talent to self-improve of where I’m making the turnovers or not trusting that extra plus-one pass, if everybody can have that mindset, then our team gets better. So that’s my message to them, when we come back in two days.”

What’d you see from your post defense today?

“You know, South Carolina was more committed scoring on from the outside than the inside because of (Madina Okot’s) presence, you know. And when you asked me that question earlier, what do we miss? And that’s where I know I’ve got a guard play and a post play where if Madina alters shot, here comes ‘Nir, then here comes Kayla. So it gives us a fighter’s chance every single night. So, you know, she just, Madina, just does all the little things. She never complains for the ball. We talked about how she leads the country in field goal percentage. So if anything, can we get her more touches?”

“So just proud of her growth, proud of this one. You know, again, the teams that we’re playing on this first month have a lot of returned experience. You know, me and Destiny were just talking about just some of the tone we need in that second quarter, when you could feel them coming, that we’ve got to collectively understand, that we need to have a demeanor about us that we punch somebody in the face, not literally, but stay on their necks when you know you’ve got the lead that this team will have to learn from this game tonight.”

Do you feel like you got help from Jerkaila Jordan and Madina Okot early on?

[Get USC Gamecocks app notifications]

“Like we said, Jerk’s one of the best players in the country, and then she lives for this moment. I thought she just had a demeanor about her that, you know, she made some tough shots, but most important was playing on both ends. And then your question about Madina, what was that? Yeah, just presence. We had a great job in executing that’s something we worked on. We had a lot of pick and roll. Lot of pick and rolls. And then when Jerk, we sub Jerk. That’s where Destiny came in. And you saw some electric plays. You know, Jerk was really causing two on one drop passes. They changed their coverage. And then here comes Destiny, making some unbelievable pick and roll layups and getting downhill where, again, that’s a collective team effort. And we talked about this game that it was going to have to be multiple bodies.”

“They played several kids, 15, 16, I’m looking here at the box score. So we had to rotate, and we had to do it together as a team. And I thought we did that. But again, the 20 turnovers were the dagger, they scored off, they scored 23 points, y’all, off our turnovers. That’s game kid. Yes, there’s not much else to say. I thought the free throws wasn’t that big of a deal. The rebounding was phenomenal. But yeah, you can’t give the number two team in the country 23 points off turnovers.

What was your message to the team after the game before Oklahoma?

“I mean Destiny especially, and the rest of my young women, they came here for this, right? You got to just continue to focus on improving. And I mentioned it earlier, if you can focus on self improvement, all right, just like her, she’s done an unbelievable job for me this year. She’s continued to get better. You know, if each one of my individual players can have that mindset, that our team will get better, and when your team gets better in the SEC, then you’re ready for March Madness and you’re ready for deep runs. So that’s where I’m trying to help them understand. Just focus on the next game. Everybody talks about, you know, how we got five out of six out the gate. Who cares? The most important game is the next one. And so that’s the message to my team.”