All of the numbers look good to Vic Schaefer.
That’s why it’s easy for the Mississippi State women’s basketball coach to make a great choice regardless of whether he picks No. 14 or No. 19. The way Schaefer sees it, No. 19 is the better number because it is a direct reflection of No. 14.
“If you’re No. 19, you have won all 14 (games),” Schaefer said Tuesday. “To have gotten it in two years and 14 games is pretty incredible.”
Schaefer and the Bulldogs are coming off a stretch of six games in 11 days that has helped them extend their season-opening winning streak to a program-best 14 games. The victories have pushed MSU to No. 19 in The Associated Press and the USA Today Top 25 polls. This is the first time MSU has been ranked since the 2009-10 season, when it was ranked for two weeks thanks to a 4-0 start. The team then lost to Texas, Rutgers, and Southern California at a tournament in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and didn’t crack the top 25 for the rest of that season.
MSU will look to extend its winning streak to 15 at 7 p.m. Monday (SEC Network +) when it plays host to Arkansas-Pine Bluff. It will face No. 14 Georgia (12-0) in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams at 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 2, 2015 (SEC Network +), at Humphrey Coliseum. MSU, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Princeton, Akron, and Oregon State are the remaining undefeated teams in Division I.
That’s elite company for MSU to be in as it prepares for the “monster,” or the “meat grinder, terms Schaefer affectionately uses to describe the 16-game SEC schedule.
Victories against Arkansas State, then-No. 17 West Virginia, and Western Kentucky have been MSU’s best wins to date in a schedule that featured a flurry of activity before Christmas. MSU played Louisiana Tech, Southern Mississippi, and Mississippi Valley State in a five-day stretch before it traveled to play at Louisiana-Lafayette. That set the stage for a trip to Nevada for the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic in which MSU defeated Illinois-Chicago 73-36 and Miami University 68-42.
Schaefer said he is proud of what the Bulldogs have accomplished after battling through a stretch early in the season in which seniors Kendra Grant, Martha Alwal, and Savannah Carter didn’t play. In that time, freshmen Victoria Vivians, Kayla Nevitt, LaKaris Salter, Blair Schaefer, and Morgan William and sophomore Chinwe Okorie made their impact on the team in their first college action.
Schaefer said the key now is to find a way to work all 14 players into the rotation. He said that notion was easier with 11 players when the bench players knew who they were going in for and when they likely would get to play. Now, though, Schaefer hopes practice will help him determine which players are working the hardest and playing the best for him to put into games, but he also knows it will be a challenge for him because his players are competitive and are used to playing.
“It is great to have that depth, and you’re right in that we haven’t played our best with the three seniors back,” Schaefer said. “You would hope that is coming down the pipe at some point. There also is no guarantee that is going to happen. Our chemistry is a challenge for me as a head coach. I am trying to figure that out every day.”
Vivians and William are leading MSU in scoring at 16.3 and 11.3 points per game. William also leads the team with 58 assists, while Okorie paces the team in rebounding (6.8). Alwal, a first-team All-SEC pick last season, is averaging 7.7 ppg. in nine games, while Grant is averaging 5.4 ppg. and Carter is averaging 2.5 ppg. in six games. Point guard Jerica James is the only senior who has played in all 14 games. She is averaging 5.0 ppg.
Schaefer said Grant, who has played in 10 games and is shooting a career-best 45.8 percent from the field, has worked her way back into the rotation the quickest of the three seniors who were injured. He hopes Alwal and Carter can continue to get stronger so they can bolster the front line and give him more defensive options, which should allow MSU to keep playing at a fast pace.
“I would hope down the line to get the three seniors back in the mold because those kids are going to be able to make us even better,” Schaefer said. “I feel confident that will happen, but after trying to deal with (how to use 14 players) the past three or four games, it presents a challenge.”
As a team, MSU is averaging 84.9 ppg. (first in the SEC) and is shooting 42.3 percent from the field (tied for seventh in the league). Last season, MSU averaged 70.9 ppg. and shot 39.7 percent from the field.
Schaefer knows SEC competition will affect his team’s scoring and shooting percentage. In 2013-14, MSU averaged 63.6 ppg. (12th) and shot 37.5 percent from the field (12th). The Bulldogs went on to finish 22-14 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
Schaefer and his players embraced the expectations for this season from the beginning of the preseason. The 14-0 start to the season and the national rankings in the media and the coaches polls have validated the team’s accomplishments.
“It’s always nice to have the respect of our peers, but, again, I think people knew when we came here three years ago this would be on the horizon,” Schaefer said, referring to being ranked No. 19 in the coaches poll. “Again, to have it happen this quick is what is kind of surprising. At the same time, you have to keep things in perspective. The hardest 75 days of your life are on the horizon. … The SEC is just a monster. It is a nightmare, and that is what is on the horizon. You have to keep things in perspective and go home at Christmas and be proud of what you have accomplished and what you have done to date, but you better come back with your hard hat on because the meat grinder is in front of you and it is a long, hard grind these next two months.”
MSU’s goal is to come out of that “meat grinder” in position to earn its first NCAA tournament bid since the 2009-10 season, when it advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history. The excitement surrounding the 2014-15 team’s start has heightened expectations for what MSU could accomplish this season.
With so many young players, though, Schaefer is approaching his team’s final non-conference game and the start of SEC play with a measured mind-set. He also knows it has been difficult to assess a recent stretch packed with exams, plenty of games, and even more thoughts about going home and being with the family for the holidays.
“I don’t know how good we are,” Schaefer said. “I thought early in the NIT that we would have a chance to be pretty good. I still think we have a chance to be pretty good. I just don’t know how good we are because we’re real inconsistent.
“The challenge is to stay where we are. … We have to stay humble and stay hungry.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino in Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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