STARKVILLE — It doesn’t matter where you look, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team has climbed into the upper level of Division I.
MSU is ranked No. 10 in The Associated Press and the USA Today national polls. It is all alone in second place in the Southeastern Conference, which is regarded as one of the nation’s best leagues every season.
The Bulldogs also are fifth in the country in turnovers forced (24.2 points per game) and third in Division I with a +9.6 turnover margin.
Those statistical categories typically are ones MSU fourth-year head coach Vic Schaefer highlights after every game. To date, MSU has earned a lot of circles on the final stat sheets for all of the good things it has accomplished in building a 17-2 record and a 4-1 mark in the SEC.
While Schaefer likes where his team is positioned entering its matchup at 6 tonight at Georgia (13-5, 1-4), the veteran coach knows his team has room for improvement.
“We played really well both the South Florida and Florida games for three quarters,” Schaefer said. “I think those games probably come to mind as the best we have played.”
Schaefer mentioned those games as candidates for the best his team has played this season because he said the Bulldogs came out and “threw the first punch,” or set the tone with an aggressive style of play on both ends of the floor. The results — a 68-58 victory against then-No. 20 USF in Jacksonville, Florida, and a 76-70 victory against Florida in Gainesville, Florida — reflected MSU’s ability to execute against two quality programs that more than likely will earn NCAA tournament invitations in March.
That being said, both games also featured lapses or stretches in which MSU lacked focus or wasn’t able to maintain its energy. The most recent example came in the first quarter of a 66-64 loss at then-No. 24 Missouri on Jan. 14.
The Bulldogs also delivered a lackluster effort in an 81-41 victory against Southeastern Louisiana on Dec. 28, 2015. Both examples offer proof of much room MSU still has for growth as it approaches its toughest part of the schedule. Following its game at Georgia, MSU will return home to play host to No. 2 South Carolina at 4 p.m. Sunday. It then will play host to No. 18 Tennessee on Thursday, Jan. 28. Games at LSU and at Arkansas follow before a rematch against Missouri and a game at No. 13 Texas A&M and a home game against No. 9 Kentucky.
Whew.
To combat that stretch, Schaefer hopes his players take a page from the games against USF and Florida and never let the opponents punch them. He said it is crucial for the Bulldogs to play with focused energy because he felt the team “lost its edge” at Missouri. Schaefer took the blame for that because he said sometimes it is easy to get lost in all of the things that different opponents do well.
Other teams could say the same thing about MSU. The Bulldogs are second in the SEC and 17th nationally in scoring (78.6), first in the league and fourth nationally in scoring margin (27.7), and second in the SEC and 15th nationally in scoring defense (52.9). As much as he enjoys breaking down the numbers, though, Schaefer knows statistics don’t win games.
While excited about the return of junior forward Breanna Richardson from a concussion that cost her two games, Schaefer is eager to see his team come together and realize its potential. MSU’s 4-1 mark in the SEC is the best five-game start in program history, but Schaefer wants that to be a starting point that becomes the norm. To do that, he will try to get the Bulldogs to play with the urgency a hunted team needs to have.
“We talk all of the time about practicing perfect and playing perfect,” Schaefer said. “It probably is not going to happen, but what we can do is have is perfect effort. We talk about trying to have perfect every day. In that ballgame, I have talked to them about I have had a team that has held a team to one offensive rebound in a half. Let’s see if we can ever get to the zero.”
Schaefer doesn’t envision holding the proverbial carrot in front of his team’s eyes to motivate it. He feels his players are smart enough to know that each road win in the SEC, especially this season when the league has seen a lot of surprising results, will help solidify the Bulldogs’ chances of earning a top four seed in the SEC tournament.
More success also will bolster MSU’s resume for the NCAA tournament selection committee when it comes time to decide which programs earn the right to play host to the first and second rounds of “March Madness.”
Each step closer to a 40-minute effort will help MSU realize that goal.
“I think they understand where our shortcomings are and why we have them,” Schaefer said. “I think they understand their coach and how I want us to play night in and night out. The Southeastern Louisiana game is a perfect example. We win by 40 and I am up here with three kids who go, ‘We didn’t play very well,’ I didn’t have to tell them that. They knew it. They knew that is what I was going to say when I got in here. They have been with me long enough and understand it.
“I think we are in a good place. Have we played 30 really good minutes? I think we have played 30 really good minutes a number of times. That first three minutes at Louisiana Tech was awful. We got down 11-0, but the next 25 minutes was as good as you can play. I thought the Florida game we opened up and played extremely well for basically three quarters, and South Florida the same thing. … Where we are today, I am tickled to death. I am excited. What I am more concerned about is I want to be in the same spot in February. I would like to be in that top four (in the league) and battling and having a chance to really have a great year. It is nice to be where we are, but we have really done nothing. Nothing is guaranteed in the future. You’re only as good as your last one. We won our last one, so now we have to move on to the next one.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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