Mississippi State arguably had the toughest road to the Final Four this season. The Bulldogs beat a 27 win DePaul team in the Second Round, followed by Kelsey Plum, the all-time scorer in the sport’s history, and the Washington Huskies in the Sweet Sixteen - a match-up that every ESPN expert picked Plum and Washington to win. State used a big fourth quarter from Teaira McCown to beat the 3rd-seeded team by double digits.
In the program’s first ever Elite Eight, they were greeted by the Baylor Bears. The top-seeded team in the Oklahoma City region was playing their fourth straight Elite Eight game, while the Bulldogs were playing on a brand new stage.