Vic Schaefer believes his players understand what it takes to win in the Southeastern Conference.
His Mississippi State women’s basketball team showed it had the fortitude to battle through adversity and tough defenses to win its first three SEC games for the first time in program history. Those victories helped propel MSU to an 18-0 start and a spot at No. 14 in The Associated Press Top 25.
In the past two games, though, MSU has seen that there are no breaks and that sometimes even an inspired, gritty effort isn’t enough in a league where the guards are a little bigger and each play is a little more important.
Schaefer hopes No. 15 MSU (18-2, 3-2 SEC) can rebound from a double-overtime loss to LSU on Thursday at 3 p.m. today when it plays host to Alabama (11-8, 0-4) at Humphrey Coliseum. Fox Sports South will broadcast the game live. It will be MSU’s annual “We Back Pat” game, which is in honor of longtime Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt, which supports the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.
“Between watching film and teaching off it, our guards can see it is very difficult,” Schaefer said of the difficult his guards had in containing Danielle Ballard, DaShawn Harden, and Raigyne Moncrief in a 71-69 loss. “Defense is hard. You can’t neglect it. It is very important to understand how to guard and the importance of guarding.”
Ballard, Harden, and Moncrief scored 55 of the Tigers’ points in the thriller that went back-and-forth all night. Ballard (game-high 24 points) hit a 3-pointer with :03 seconds left in the first overtime. MSU had a 69-65 lead with 1 minute, 57 seconds left in the second overtime, but it committed back-to-back turnovers to lose the lead. Kendra Grant’s 17-footer in the final seconds went off the back of the rim to send MSU to its ninth-straight defeat against LSU.
Schaefer said his team watched film of the loss Friday and had “limited” court time. On Saturday, he said the team practiced for two hours and that the last hour “was a lot better” than the first hour. Schaefer hopes that last hour carries over to today because MSU is in a stretch in which it has allowed opponents to shoot 60.9 percent or better in the first half of each of the past three games. It recovered to hold Arkansas four field goals in the second half in a 72-57 victory, but it couldn’t fight back in a 78-62 loss at Vanderbilt on Jan. 11. It suffered a similar fate against LSU despite a season-high crowd of 4,727 that did all it could to will the Bulldogs to victory.
Schaefer said his team’s defensive improvement is an “on-going situation.” He said that progression is a challenge because it isn’t something that can be fixed in a couple of practices. He acknowledged that his senior class is better defensively than his freshman class, and that the sophomore class is a little better than it was last season.
Against LSU, Schaefer said he opted to go with a veteran lineup that included senior point guard Jerica James and senior guard Savannah Carter. Both players did some things well — James had 16 points, while Carter had seven rebounds (six offensive), four assists, and five steals — but they also committed some mistakes as part of a 24-turnover effort.
In addition to MSU’s defensive struggles, Schaefer said the Bulldogs have work to do to get better against zone defenses. With leading scorer Victoria Vivians coming off a scoreless game and Morgan William, the team’s second-leading scorer, only scoring two points against LSU, MSU had to go deep into shot clocks and was forced to relied on perimeter shots to stay in the game.
The offensive effort was further complicated by the absence of senior center Martha Alwal. The first-team preseason All-SEC pick didn’t play against LSU even though Schaefer said she didn’t have an issue with her back. After the game, Schaefer said the team had issues to clean up in house when he was asked if Alwal’s back kept her from playing.
Schaefer said Saturday that Alwal will play today.
“I am disappointed I have to be dealing with anyone at this time of the year with anything like that, especially a senior,” Schaefer said. “She knows it, I know it. She will be better off for it, and that is what it is really about. I am trying to prepare kids for life and the real world. I love Martha Alwal. Make no mistake about it, but sometimes just like with your own children love. You love your children, but you might not love their behavior. … I think she understands that.
“We need Martha, but we need Martha in the right frame of mind doing the right things. It is unfortunate. The timing is awful. I am pretty sure we could have used her (against LSU). Is she the difference? I don’t know, but the kid has talent when she is playing well.
“I need my old Martha back on the floor and off the floor. That Martha has a chance to have long career.”
Schaefer also has confidence Vivians, who is shooting 30 percent (15 of 50) from the field in the SEC, will bounce back on both ends of the floor. While her defense might be considered a part of her game that needs immediate attention, Schaefer said her role on offense has earned plenty of scrutiny.
“Victoria understands it and she wants to get better. That is the big thing,” Schaefer said. “Victoria understands No. 1 she has to get better defensively and No. 2 she has to get better offensively. … It is not just defense. It is a little bit of everything. What I love about Victoria is she understands it. She is very mature, and she knows she has to mature on both ends. That is why she is going to be a great player for us. She has all of the tools. I don’t worry about her. I think other people are worried about her, but she and I understand. She is going to keep working at it.”
Schaefer said he has talked with Vivians about using her size — she is 6-foot-1 — to take the ball to the basket, or to get closer to the rim and capitalize on her mid-range game. Of her 266 field goal attempts, 117 have been 3-pointers.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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