Mississippi State women's basketball learns how far it has to go

A dominant loss to Oklahoma reveals how far Mississippi State still must go to compete with college basketball’s best.

Mississippi State Guard Destiney McPhaul (#2) during the game between the Auburn Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, MS. | Mississippi State Athletics

Mississippi State walked into Sunday afternoon's game looking like a team that had figured some things out.

A 10-game winning streak, confidence built from a dominant win over Auburn and the kind of rhythm that makes you wonder just how high the ceiling might be for this group.

Oklahoma answered that question loudly and emphatically.

Mississippi State is good, maybe even very good, but there is still a sizable gap between being a strong team and being one of the best teams in the country.

From the opening minutes, Oklahoma made it clear that Mississippi State had stepped into a different weight class. The Sooners dictated pace, imposed physicality and exposed every crack in the Bulldogs’ armor. Mississippi State managed just two field goals in the first 10 minutes. By the end of the first quarter, the game already felt out of reach. By halftime, it was unmistakably over.

That matters. Not because one ugly loss defines a season, but because of what it revealed.

Mississippi State’s winning streak wasn’t a mirage. The Bulldogs were playing their best basketball, defending well, sharing the ball and getting consistent scoring. But streaks can be deceptive when they don’t come against elite speed, elite pressure and elite execution. Oklahoma brought all three, and the Bulldogs simply couldn’t keep up.

The most concerning part wasn’t the missed shots. Those happen.

Rather it was how overwhelmed the Bulldogs looked when the game sped up. Oklahoma’s pressure turned routine passes into turnovers and forced them into rushed decisions. On the other end, the Sooners made scoring look easy, getting to the rim, winning in transition and capitalizing every time Mississippi State blinked.

Good teams can survive a bad shooting night. Great teams still compete when the game gets uncomfortable. Mississippi State never found that footing.

That doesn’t erase what this team has accomplished or where it’s headed.

At 14-2, the Bulldogs are still having an excellent season. Kharyssa Richardson and Destiney McPhaul have been steady leaders. Favour Nwaedozi is a special talent and the talented freshmen will only get better. There’s depth, effort and belief in this group. All of that is real.

But this game was a measuring stick, and the measurement wasn’t flattering.

Championship-level teams don’t get overwhelmed for 40 minutes. They adjust. They slow the game down. They find a way to manufacture points when the offense disappears. Mississippi State couldn’t do any of that against Oklahoma, and that’s the clearest sign of how much work still lies ahead.

The encouraging part is that January losses don’t end seasons. This is the kind of game that forces uncomfortable conversations in film sessions and practices. It highlights the difference between being ranked and being respected. Between winning games and surviving elite competition.

Mississippi State is on the right path. That much is clear. But if the goal is to compete with the best of the best — the teams that expect to play deep into March — then nights like this can’t happen again.

Oklahoma didn’t just beat the Bulldogs. It showed them what the next level looks like. Now the question is whether Mississippi State can close that gap before it matters most.