Women's Fastbreak On SI

Mississippi State Coach Refutes Player Criticism After JuJu Watkins ACL Tear

The Mississippi State women's basketball coach set the record straight about criticism his players are receiving after USC star JuJu Watkins' ACL tear.

Grant Young

Oct 16, 2024; Birmingham, AL, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Sam Purcell talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images
Oct 16, 2024; Birmingham, AL, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Sam Purcell talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images / Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

The USC Trojans women's basketball team defeated No. 9-seeded Mississippi State by a score of 96-59 on March 24 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

However, USC's winning performance is far from the biggest story to stem from this game. Trojans superstar JuJu Watkins suffered a torn ACL in her right knee while driving to the basket in the first quarter. Not only will Watkins (who will be having surgery in the near future) miss the remainder of this year's NCAA Tournament, but she will most likely miss most if not all of the next NCAA season as well.

Tensions were running high in the immediate aftermath of this devastating injury for not only USC but for all of women's college basketball. One unfortunate aspect of this is that some upset fans are trying to place blame on the Mississippi State players (especially Chandler Prater) who were guarding Watkins when the injury occurred, as if it could somehow be their fault.

When speaking with the media postgame, Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell addressed the injury and any negativity being directed toward his players.

"First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers are with JuJu," Purcell said in his opening statement, per the March Madness YouTube account. He later added, "We're a program of class. We don't play to hurt, we play to compete. And that's just an unfortunate situation.

"There was no harm, and I hope us as a society, because social media can be ugly, that you understand the other lady on my team that was involved is a woman of class. She comes from a family, too, of loving parents. And I'm sure she is remorseful and obviously didn't want to have that happen," he continued.

"I pray as a society that we understand it's a thoughtful apology that we don't take this further than it needs to," Purcell added. "On behalf of the Bulldogs, again, we're praying for her recovery for this next game because she's the ultimate competitor. We want to see her back out on that court."

Props to Purcell for addressing this fan sentiment straight away.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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