STARKVILLE — The construction continues for Vic Schaefer.
The Mississippi State women’s basketball coach didn’t envision nailing down an identity for his 2015-16 team after only one game. Coming off a 68-47 victory against Samford last week, MSU still might be tinkering with lineups and rotations in December.
But Schaefer hopes a stretch of four games in nine days that begins at 1 p.m. Saturday against Grambling will help answer a lot of questions about a team that is ranked No. 10 in The Associated Press Top 25 and No. 11 in the USA Today Coaches poll.
“This was a big week for us. We’ve got to get better,” Schaefer said. “I think we’ve got a long way to go.”
MSU will play host to Mississippi Valley State (7 p.m. Tuesday), Norfolk State (6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27), and Savannah State (2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29) to complete a season-opening five-game homestand. The hope is those games will adequately prepare MSU for its first ranked test of the season — a game at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, at Texas, which is No. 11 and No. 8 in the national rankings.
With only one game to evaluate, Schaefer can point to a 32.5-percent shooting effort against Samford that feature a 2-of-20 mark from 3-point range as the top priority. He said Wednesday that mark likely would have been a lot lower if MSU hadn’t forced 28 turnovers and gotten in transition for numerous easy baskets. He said shooting and finishing drives to the basket have been priorities this week.
“Some of it is bad shot selection, some of it is balls just didn’t go in, and some of it is from kids pressing and trying to do too much,” Schaefer said when asked to name his team’s ideal shooting percentage. “I am not real concerned about a couple of those kids because it is not going to happen very often.”
Sophomore Victoria Vivians, the team’s leading returning scorer at 14.9 points per game, had eight points on 4-of-14 shooting. She played only 23 minutes due to foul trouble. Junior forward Breanna Richardson and sophomore guard Blair Schaefer combined to go 4 of 20 from the field, while sophomore point guard Morgan William was 2 of 7 from the field.
Junior guard Dominique Dillingham led MSU with her first double-double (13 points on 4-of-11 shooting, 11 rebounds), while freshman guard Jazzmun Holmes had 12 points (4 of 8 from the field) and five steals.
Only eight of MSU’s 24 points from post players came from starters. In all, MSU had nine players see double-digit minutes, while another — senior Sherise Williams — logged nine minutes.
Schaefer said MSU will get to a point where it won’t be able to play 14 players. Against Samford, MSU played 11 players and was without sophomore guard Kayla Nevitt. He said the team’s inexperience accounts for a lack of toughness he sees in his team. He also said the Bulldogs need production from their post players — like centers Teaira McCowan and Chinwe Okorie — and that it has to be more than just an “accidental layup” every now and then.
That being said, Schaefer said MSU is still figuring out its identity.
“I think we need to have a balance, but I think our guard play should be pretty good,” Schaefer said. “Offensively, Victoria, Dom, and Mo (William) are pretty good players who can break you down and create-type players. Blair is a space-eater, where she is going to create space for everybody else because they’re going to have to go over there and respect her. I think Kayla’s game is a mid-range game, so I like our guard play, but I also love our size.
“That is the challenge with my staff and I, trying to develop all of this.”
Schaefer said he spent the past few days watching basketball and seeing how other teams handled the rule changes in the women’s game. This season, the sport has gone to four 10-minute quarters as opposed to two 20-minute halves. In the first quarter, a timeout two minutes into the game could result in a media stoppage that forces teams to play the final eight minutes without a scheduled break. That’s why Schaefer said the Bulldogs scrimmaged Tuesday for the final 10 minutes after a long practice in an effort to simulate game situations. While he feels the Bulldogs’ depth might give them an advantage in those situations, he isn’t sure which direction the team will go to capitalize on that potential.
“We have to do some things better,” Schaefer said. “I don’t need to play one game against Samford to realize we might be ranked No. 10 right now, but I think we have got a long way to go before we live up to No. 10.”
William and Vivians agreed, saying the MSU learned it has to “lock in and play defense” and get better on offense after watching the tape of the Samford game.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well, so we have to shoot the ball well and move, like back-door cuts,” Vivians said. “We have to be more approachable on offense.
“Everybody has to have a different approach because we saw how bad we looked, so we have to come in with a different perspective.”
Said William, “We have to be patient with our sets and attack the basket and make good shot selection.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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