Cowbell Corner

New look Mississippi State roster continues prep for upcoming season

The Bulldogs' preseason practices are in full swing and they'll kickoff the season at next week's SEC Tipoff '26.
Taylor Hodges|
Mississippi State players warm up before a preseason practice.
Mississippi State players warm up before a preseason practice. | Mississippi State Athletics

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Mississippi State Bulldogs

The college basketball gets its unofficial start of the season next week when all 32 men and women SEC basketball teams head to Birmingham, Ala. for SEC Tipoff ’26.

It’ll be an action-packed two days with lots of usual preseason stuff. Lots of interviews, preseason All-SEC teams and preseason predictions.

Good luck to those voters trying to predict how good Mississippi State’s women’s team will be in 2025 with just two returning players who made a combined 13 starts last season.

Destiney McPhaul and Chandler Prater are the only two returning players. The rest of the roster is made up of three true freshmen and a bunch of transfers, both domestic and international.

That makes it hard to know what to expect from the Bulldogs, especially in a conference stacked with great teams, including 10 who were in the NCAA Tournament last March.

But, so far, the changes seem to be working fine for the Bulldogs.

“It's been amazing,” McPhaul said a media availability on Wednesday. “This is a great team, great teammates, we all work well together. We’ve been having fun on and off the court, but it's been great.”

How great a season Mississippi State has will be influenced by what’s easily one of the best high school recruiting classes in the program’s history.

The Bulldogs’ 2025 signing class was ranked No. 11 overall by ESPN with guard Jaylah Lampley (No. 37 overall), forward Madison Francis (No. 38) and forward Nataliyah Gray (No. 93).

In the final top 25 class rankings, Shane Laflin wrote this about the Bulldogs’ class:

“Coach Sam Purcell has some serious length, athleticism and energy coming to Starkville in 2025, perfect for the SEC. This group will allow Purcell to play bigger lineups and increase the pace of play with defensive intensity next season.”

Mississippi State will need that energy in an SEC known for its physicality. But that doesn’t scare the freshmen.

“Nothing is easy, nothing is given to you,” Lampley said. “I’m coming in with that mindset…and when you have great senior leadership and they're always reminding us of what it takes to work at this level and the things to succeed, I feel like that goes a long way as well.”

The Bulldogs will have some work to do to show they can compete in the SEC. Preseason rankings haven’t come out yet, but ESPN put out its preseason top 25 for the upcoming season.

Mississippi State was not included.

The Bulldogs will start working to fix that when the season starts November 3 against Davidson.

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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