A day after the Mississippi State women’s basketball team celebrated its first NCAA tournament berth since 2010, Vic Schaefer was named The Associated Press’ Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year, while freshman Victoria Vivians was named second-team All-SEC.
Ole Miss senior forward Tia Faleru also was named first-team All-SEC. She was the only unanimous pick for the first team.
Tuesday’s honor comes after Schaefer was named SEC co-Coach of the Year by league coaches.
“This is an award I share with my staff because you can’t do it by yourself,” Schaefer said. “I told Scott (Stricklin) when I came here, ‘I’ll come to Mississippi State but you have to help me get the right staff in here,’ and he did. I also share this honor with my players. It has been a tremendous year and we’re not done. I’m very humbled and very honored. I appreciate the confidence and trust, and I look forward to the rest of the season.”
Schaefer and Vivians have helped MSU earn a No. 5 seed, the second highest in school history, in the NCAA tournament’s Spokane Regional. The team will play Tulane at 1:30 p.m. (CT) Friday (ESPN2) in Durham, North Carolina.
Schaefer has led MSU to one of the biggest turnarounds in the country. In three seasons his squad has made a 13-win improvement to post a 26-6 record and 11-5 SEC mark. Both are program records for victories.
Vivians has been a key spark in the historic season, leading the team and SEC with a scoring average of 15.1 points per game, which is fifth nationally among rookies.
In conference games, the Carthage native was the top rookie and seventh overall with 13.8 ppg.
Faleru added to her list of postseason accolades by earning first-team All-SEC honors for the second-consecutive year.
The Ozark, Alabama, native was the lone SEC player to average a double-double (14.7 ppg., 10.3 rebounds per game) and is the first player to lead the league in rebounding in back-to-back years since LSU’s Sylvia Fowles led the SEC three straight years (2006-08).
Additionally, she is the first to average double-figure rebounds since Georgia’s Porsha Phillips in 2011, and the first to average a double-double since 2011.
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