Mississippi
What Sam Purcell said of Mississippi State women’s basketball’s last-second loss at Missouri
Mississippi State women’s basketball had the ball in the hands of its 40-point scorer with 25.8 seconds remaining in Tuesday’s game.
The Bulldogs led by one point, but the shot clock showed 16 seconds. One more bucket to add to Jerkaila Jordan’s career high in points could seal the win against Missouri.
Mizzou forward Laniah Randle poked the ball away from Jordan with 13 seconds remaining and another Tigers player grabbed it and raced down the floor. Missouri didn’t call a timeout before Grace Slaughter hit a midrange baseline jump shot at the buzzer.
It dealt Mississippi State (16-6, 3-5 SEC) a 78-77 loss to the Tigers (12-10, 1-6) at Mizzou Arena.
“This one stings,” MSU coach Sam Purcell said in his postgame radio interview. “The kids are heartbroken in that locker room. They wanted this bad. I’m proud of the effort they gave, but at the end of the day, our defense was not good enough to get enough stops tonight.”
What Sam Purcell said went wrong on final play
Purcell called a timeout before Jordan’s turnover. As she began penetrating toward the hoop, center Madina Okot set a screen to the left, but Jordan drove right instead. Jordan then tried to cross back to her left when she began to lose control of the ball.
“I’m going to have to go back and watch it,” Purcell said. “Obviously I thought we had a great flat back screen. We called a timeout, even though we had the matchup earlier because we wanted to catch our breath. We still were able to get it back in our hands for the end of the game.
“You just got to tip your hat to Missouri. I think they got a deflection or a hand in there because she wasn’t able to be stopped. But for that possession, she was. And then they go down, and then obviously make a dagger there at the horn.”
Purcell pointed to two other aspects that went wrong in the game for Mississippi State, who played without backup point guard Destiney McPhaul because of illness.
One, he thought the Bulldogs allowed too many and-1 fouls. They also left points at the free-throw line, going just 14 of 24. Jordan, despite becoming the ninth player in program history to score at least 40 points in a game, was 9-for-17, with four misses in the fourth quarter.
MSU led for 22 minutes, 3 seconds of game time, including the entire third quarter, when it led by as many as nine points.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Mississippi State basketball has faired decently well so far this season when it comes to injuries, as they haven’t seen multiple players miss extended time to this point. But there has been one notable injury to the roster that’s lasted several weeks.
Penn State transfer point guard Kanye Clary hasn’t seen the court since Mississippi State’s November 29 loss to Butler seven games into the season. He suffered a lower leg injury in early December and since been out indefinitely.
Now after 13 games without him available, we have an answer as to his status going forward.
Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Kanye Clary out for the season with injury
During his Tuesday night “Dawg Talk” radio show, Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans confirmed what many had been speculating. Kanye Clary is officially out for the rest of the year.
From Chris Jans at Dawg Talk regarding Kanye Clary: From the radio show
I want to provide an update on Kanye. He’s missed a significant amount of time due to injury, and his injury will not allow Kanye to return to the court this season.
— Paul Jones (@PaulJonesOn3) January 29, 2025
Kanye Clary was seen as one of Mississippi State’s biggest transfer portal additions over the offseason. The former Penn State guard averaged 16.7 points per game on 46% shooting for the Nittany Lions during the 2023-2024 season. A player who primarily did his damage inside the arc, Clary could ideally have served as a compliment to Josh Hubbard in the backcourt.
He was also a more natural point guard, which the State roster otherwise lacked. In seven games this season, Clary made four starts, averaging 6.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. His best performance came against Georgia State when he had 11 points on a perfect night shooting and totaled six assists.
Despite modest numbers, Clary’s presence on the court clearly benefited Josh Hubbard, who was at his best during those early games. Without Clary, it’s largely been on Hubbard to orchestrate the offense, and despite doing a good job of handling the ball, his scoring and efficiency has slipped playing the point.
Hubbard is at his best when someone else is setting things up for him, and while both Cam Matthews and Riley Kugel has shown they can handle that role, they too are best suited elsewhere. Unfortunately for State, they don’t have any other realistic option other than to primarily play Hubbard at point guard, mix up those duties on occasion, and make it work as best as they can. On the positive side, they’ve still shown the can win under those circumstances.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State basketball guard Kanye Clary is out for the season, coach Chris Jans announced on the “Dawg Talk” radio show on Tuesday night.
Clary, a Penn State transfer, has been out since Nov. 29 due to a lower-leg injury. The Bulldogs said he was out indefinitely after he missed the Dec. 4 win against Pittsburgh.
“I got an update on Kanye Clary and unfortunately he’s missed a significant amount of time due to an injury, and this injury will not allow Kanye to return to the court this season for us,” Jans said.
No. 13 MSU (16-4, 4-3 SEC) hosts No. 4 Alabama (17-3, 6-1) at Humphrey Coliseum on Wednesday.
Kanye Clary injury update
Mississippi State landed Clary in the transfer portal, and he was viewed as one of MSU’s most important additions. He scored 16.7 points per game last season at Penn State with 20 starts before being dismissed from the team.
Clary, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound junior, was only able to play in seven games with four starts before his injury. He last played Nov. 29 in a loss to Butler in the Arizona Tipoff. Clary has sat on the bench during MSU’s games, including road ones, though he hasn’t been dressing in uniform.
Who replaces Kanye Clary in Mississippi State lineup?
The Bulldogs have played 13 games without Clary, so not much will change with the rotation.
Boston College transfer Claudell Harris Jr. has started 10 consecutive games, splitting point guard duties with Josh Hubbard. Riley Kugel, who averages 10.6 points per game, has played more since Clary’s injury and has solidified himself as one of MSU’s best scorers off the bench. Freshman Dellquan Warren has also played sparingly since Clary’s injury.
Kanye Clary stats
Clary averaged 6.3 points, 2.6 assists and 1.3 rebounds per game this season.
He scored in double figures twice with 12 points against Southeastern Louisiana and 11 points against Goergia State but also had two scoreless games. Clary particularly struggled to shoot in the small sample size, recording a 36.8% field-goal percentage and 20.0% 3-point percentage, both career lows.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Mississippi
Where Mississippi State women’s basketball stands in updated March Madness bracket predictions
Mississippi State women’s basketball suffered a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer to Missouri on Tuesday night. Yet, it didn’t negatively impact its NCAA tournament projection.
The Bulldogs (16-6, 3-5 SEC) also won 96-56 against Auburn on Thursday, their largest SEC margin of victory in coach Sam Purcell’s three seasons.
MSU only has one game this week at LSU (21-1, 6-1) on Sunday (1 p.m., SEC Network).
Here’s where Mississippi State stands in the latest NCAA tournament predictions.
Mississippi State women’s basketball NCAA tournament projection
ESPN’s Charlie Creme kept Mississippi State as a No. 8 seed this week. He has the Bulldogs matched up against No. 9 Oregon. The winner would play either No. 1 UCLA or No. 16 seeds Texas Southern or North Carolina A&T.
Mississippi State women’s basketball NCAA tournament resume
Mississippi State’s NCAA NET ranking fell three spots to No. 34 after the Missouri loss. Missouri’s NET ranking is No. 74, becoming MSU’s worse loss of the season. MSU is now 14-1 in Quads 2-4.
The Bulldogs’ best wins are at home versus Oklahoma and against Utah on a neutral court.
The Sunday game at LSU will be Quad 1.
Mississippi State women’s basketball NCAA tournament history under Sam Purcell
MSU has reached the NCAA tournament once in coach Sam Purcell’s two completed seasons. In 2022-23, MSU won in the First Four and the first round before losing to Notre Dame in the second round.
The Bulldogs have made NCAA tournament appearances 12 times and have won at least one game 11 straight times.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
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