Mississippi State women's basketball will face California to open March Madness. Bracket update, game info

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State women's basketball is back in the NCAA tournament.

The Bulldogs (21-11) drew a No. 9 seed and will play No. 8 California (25-8) on Saturday in Los Angeles. The winner will play No. 1 Southern Cal or No. 16 UNC-Greensboro.

It marks two trips to the NCAA tournament in the first three seasons under coach Sam Purcell. MSU was selected to the First Four in 2023 and defeated Illinois to make the first round. Then, it beat Creighton before losing to Notre Dame in the second round. The Bulldogs narrowly missed the NCAA tournament last season and played in the WBIT instead.

Mississippi State lost just one nonconference game before an up-and-down SEC schedule. It was a victim of two buzzer-beater losses to Missouri and Florida. MSU beat Missouri in the first round of the SEC tournament and then lost to Ole Miss in the next round.

Jerkaila Jordan is Mississippi State's leading scorer with 16.0 points per game.

MSU has never won the national championship but was a finalist in 2017 and 2018 under coach Vic Schaefer.

Who does Mississippi State women's basketball play in March Madness?

Mississippi State will play California in the first round.

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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