Everything Mississippi State Coach and Players Said After Upset Win

Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell praised his team’s resilience after a statement road win, pointing to defensive adjustments, belief, and late-game execution as key factors.

Purcell said the victory validated weeks of tough conversations and preparation, while emphasizing that bigger challenges still lie ahead in SEC play.

Opening statement...

First and foremost, I’m extremely proud of my team. One of our slogans has been bend, don’t break, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve been right there all season. When the Top 25 comes out and the SEC has 10 ranked teams, it tells you how hard this league is.

I’ve got some dogs to my left and right, but most importantly in that locker room. They’re not talking about us — and that’s fine. We want that. We want a seat at the table.

Tonight, the hungry wolf at the bottom of the mountain showed up. That’s what I tell them: come out hungry. You’ve got to want this. We haven’t folded. We believe in each other, and this was a huge one for us.

Karyssa Richardson on biggest reason for the upset win...

I’d say our defense was the biggest thing. Transition defense especially. They’re a great team and they love to push the ball. Our focus was getting stops — even if we didn’t score. Stop, score, stop, score.

Trayanna Crips on defensive adjustments after previous game vs. Tennessee...

Like Rich said, our defense. But also coming in confident. Knowing we can play with them and compete. It’s hard to beat a team twice, so we came in believing we could do it. We didn’t help strong-side, and our assistants did a great job preparing us.

Sam Purcell on defensive adjustments after previous game vs. Tennessee...

We took it personally. We’re last or second-to-last in the SEC in field-goal defense, and with the experience on this staff, that’s not acceptable. We worked on it two hours one day, two hours the next. That’s why you saw the response tonight.

Purcell on how road win helps Bulldogs...

It builds belief. She came here because she believed in this program. We are an NCAA Tournament program. We’re not the sisters of the poor — we know how to win. I recruited winners.

I told the seniors this week I want them to leave with no regrets. This win validates the tough conversations, the long film sessions, and the extra shooting.

That said, this can’t be the biggest win of the year. We’ve got a lot ahead of us. You try to steal one on the road, but you protect your home. Missouri on Sunday is going to be a war, and we can’t drop the ball.

On benefit of playing Tennessee previously...

I appreciate that question. I have tremendous respect for Tennessee — this is a historic building, and I get goosebumps being here. I started as a GA when Pat was here, and the crowd was phenomenal.

But you can’t simulate this environment in practice. Playing them once, watching the film, and then drilling the exact situations again helped us stay poised and execute tonight.

Purcell on 50-40-10 concept...

How did it start? Probably all the come-to-Jesus meetings we’ve had behind the scenes. But honestly, this is the most fun group I’ve coached, character-wise. They’re winners.

This league can make you feel like you’re not good — and we are. We have zero bad losses. This was our seventh straight Top 25 matchup.

The 50% is effort — that’s always there. The 40% is execution and following the scout report, which we did tonight. The final 10% is the last five minutes — the dogfight. We lost that at Alabama. Tonight, we won it. We absorbed their punch and maintained control. That’s what winning teams do.

Crisp on difference between first quarter and rest of game...

Punching first in the opening five minutes and not letting them get comfortable. If they get ahead, that’s on us to get stops and not let it snowball.

We took a punch early, but then we woke up. We weren’t here just to be here. Our defense picked up, we found momentum, and once we had it, we kept it.