Mississippi State women’s basketball player Chandler Prater has received vulgar comments directed at her on social media after she was involved in the play that ended the season for Southern Cal star JuJu Watkins on Monday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Watkins, the nation’s fifth leading scorer and a two-time All-American, suffered a torn ACL during the first quarter at Galen Center in Los Angeles while driving to the MSU basket. Prater was guarding her and made slight contact as Watkins’ right knee buckled and she fell to the ground. Watkins was carried off the floor, and she didn’t return to the game.
The No. 1 seed Trojans (30-3) crushed No. 9 Mississippi State 96-59 to advance to the Sweet 16.
The Bulldogs (22-12) have been criticized since the injury with Prater one of the targets.
Prater has comments disabled on her recent Instagram posts, but some fans scrolled to other posts to send messages. Some of them call Prater “dirty” and that the graduate senior should quit playing basketball.
“Learn how to play the sport without fouling and injuring players,” one account wrote on a post from February.
Bulldogs coach Sam Purcell said after the game there was no intention to injure Watkins.
“To reiterate what Coach (Sam) Purcell said following last night’s game, it was an unfortunate situation during a basketball play and our thoughts are with JuJu Watkins as she recovers, ” a Mississippi State athletics department spokesperson said in a statement given to the Clarion Ledger on Tuesday. “We recognize that emotions run high in competitive sports, but there is no excuse for personal attacks or harassment online toward the young women in our program. Mississippi State will continue to support all of our student-athletes, both on and off the court.”
MORE: JuJu Watkins injury: What we know about USC star, Mississippi State women’s basketball response
Prater, a guard/forward, transferred to MSU from Oklahoma State after only playing five games last season because of a torn Achilles. Prater made 12 starts this season and averaged 6.4 points per game.
She started her career at Kansas and played four seasons.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: JuJu Watkins injury: Chandler Prater target of social media hate
