State looks for another win in SEC

Sam Purcell is learning some things about his team in year one as the first year coach settles into his position at Mississippi State.

For one, the coach has learned that there's a time where he needs to step out of the way and let his players do what comes natural to them. He also is learning that they're not going to stop fighting even when things get tough and that was never more evident than when the team got a huge win earlier this week over Tennessee.

“We bend, but we don't break,” Purcell said. “The beauty of college basketball is there are life lessons. I'm forever grateful to be their coach, but sometimes things don't go your way in sports. We felt the noise from the fan base and we had a great talk last week. We had some tired minds and tired bodies and we went back to the basics.

“It starts with me. They know how to make plays. I have to get out of the way, but at the same time, they had to bring their attitude and toughness.”

The previous two games were a challenge for Purcell's team. After the Bulldogs had

weathered the storm of losing three-straight games to three of the top four teams in the league in Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee, State won three-straight games itself with victories over Texas A&M, Auburn and Kentucky.

Another road block came with two poor showings in blowout road losses at Ole Miss and Georgia. The second of those was one of the worst losses in years as State dropped a 62-34 decision to the other Bulldogs. For

MSU to get back in the running for an NCAA Tournament spot, the losses had to stop and some marquee wins had to come. The Bulldogs got just that with a 91-90 thriller in two overtimes over the Lady Volunteers.

“This win was a statement win,”msu guard Asianae Johnson said. “Just being able to lean on each other as teammates… We were making sure that we all kept our heads straight and we won. That was huge.”

Johnson was a key piece in that game scoring 16 points off the bench while Jerkaila Jordan had a team-high 24 points and Anastasia Hayes dropped 14 points in 40 minutes with eight rebounds, four steals and three assists.

It was the first Quadrant I victory of the year for the Bulldogs (16-7, 5-5 SEC) and has them squarely on the right side of the bubble with games to go. Getting those wins is what's going to be the challenging part. The next four games are all important and could get that bid locked up if MSU can make a run.

It starts with Florida tonight at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network. Purcell's team will take on a Gators squad that is 14-9 this year with a 3-7 mark in SEC play and the three losses have come against the bottom two teams in the league. It's still a tough SEC road matchup and another challenge for State. Purcell is all in on getting his players to play loose and with a sense of purpose though and believes everything else will fall in place.

“They've had a great year and have put in work like no other,” Purcell said. “They believe in each other and love each other, but I told them that we have to start having fun. We put too much weight on our shoulders – relax. It's a special team and we've got to take it one game at a time.”

Caleb Ducking has decided to take advantage of a sixth year of college football eligibility after all, but it won't be for catching passes anymore at Mississippi State.

Ducking originally announced about a month ago that he was going to skip an extra season of college and enter the National Football League Draft. Those plans have apparently change.

Reports on Tuesday had Ducking leaving the Bulldogs and entering the transfer portal.

After transferring to Mississippi State from Holmes Community College, Ducking redshirted in 2020. He started becoming a factor in Mike Leach's Air Raid offense the last two seasons.

Ducking played in seven games for the Bulldogs during his redshirt junior season and had nine catches for 83 yards. He had 40 yards receiving against at Vanderbilt and four catches at home against Tennessee State.

It was in his redshirt senior season that Ducking made the most impact. He played in 13 games with 12 starts and had 46 receptions for 477 yards and a team-high eight touchdown catches, which stand tied for seventh in MSU single-season history.

The best games for Ducking last season were a sevencatch effort at Arizona for 56 yards with two touchdowns and a season-high 96 yards receiving with two touchdowns against Bowling Green.

EMCC places fourth in golf

PASS CHRISTIAN – The East Mississippi Community College men's golf team opened the MACCC'S spring season with a fourth-place finish at the PRCC Wildcat Invitational held this week at The Oaks Golf Club.

The EMCC Lions improved 31 strokes from Monday's first round by firing a final-round 304 to jump three places and finish fourth overall as a team. Tuesday's EMCC team score was the fourth-best round recorded by any of the 11 participating teams during this week's two rounds played on the 7,006-yard, par-72 layout.

The Lions had three players finish among the top 18 individually at the spring-opening tournament hosted by Pearl River Community College. EMCC sophomore Matthew Phillips, out of Columbus Christian Academy, improved 11 strokes from his opening-round 82 to finish Tuesday at 1-under-par 71 and tying for 11th place overall with a twoday total of 153.

EMCC'S Spence Davis, a transfer from Mississippi Gulf Coast CC by way of Madison Central High School, finished 15th overall with a pair of 78s. Freshman Carter Martin, out of Canton Academy, improved 10 strokes from Monday with a 2-over-par 74 during Tuesday's final round.

Rounding out East Mississippi's five-man golf squad this week were freshmen Daniel Martin (Parrish, AL/ Oakman HS) and Ben Boggan (Benton Academy), who both trimmed 10 strokes off their opening-round scores to finish tied for 43rd (91-81—172) and 56th (95-85— 180), respectively.

In claiming the top-four individual places in the tournament, including medalist Chase Kaiser (66-73—139) and runner-up Will Burnham (71-74—145), Mississippi Gulf Coast (290-285) dominated the field with a 35-stroke victory (575-610) over team runner-up Meridian CC (312-298). Copiah-lincoln earned third-place team honors with a twoday total of 631 (309-322).

Second-year head coach Ashton Maddaloni's EMCC Lions will take nearly a month away from tournament competition before participating in the East Central Cc-hosted MACCC event, March 6-7, at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in Philadelphia.