STARKVILLE
The stretch run is here, and the Mississippi State women’s basketball team is poised to add a new entry to another history-making season.
On Thursday, No. 16 MSU defeated Vanderbilt 66-61 in Nashville, Tennessee, for its 10th victory in the Southeastern Conference. The win helped the Bulldogs reach double figures in the SEC for the first time in back-to-back seasons.
At 1:30 p.m. today, MSU (23-6, 10-5) will have a chance to add two entries to its resume when it plays host to Alabama (15-13, 4-11) at Humphrey Coliseum. A win would help the Bulldogs wrap up a double bye in the SEC tournament for the first time in back-to-back seasons. Sophomore Victoria Vivians also needs three points to reach 1,000 points for her career. That distinction is special because Vivians would be the third-fastest MSU player to reach that milestone. Only greats LaToya Thomas and Tan White reached 1,000 points in their freshman and sophomore seasons faster.
Vivians is a great place to start to look at what MSU has done to build off a program-record 27-win season, which also featured a program-record 11 wins in the SEC.
The 6-foot-1 guard from Carthage has continued MSU’s tradition of great scorers from the state. Thomas, who was from Greenville, could beat you from distance or from the block, while White could jet by you and get to the rim or pull up and drain a 3-pointer.
Vivians has shown flashes of becoming a more versatile offensive player. A year ago, she averaged 14.9 points per game and shot 37.6 percent from the field. Entering the regular-season finale against Ole Miss, she had taken double the number of shots of everybody on the team except Breanna Richardson, including 179 3-pointers and 109 free throws.
This season, Vivians has increased her scoring to 17 ppg. on the strength of 38.7-percent shooting. She has attempted more than double the number of shots than everybody on the team, including 202 3-pointers and 72 free throws.
MSU coach Vic Schaefer repeatedly has said it is unfair to place so much responsibility on a sophomore, especially one he said gets guarded “harder than anyone in the country.” But he also has said MSU needs Vivians to be a player who can’t get caught up in her missed shots because she has to be confident the next one is going in.
A lot of Vivians’ shots have gone in the last two games. She was 10 of 18 from the field in a 60-51 victory at Ole Miss and 9 of 14 from the field against Vanderbilt. Those efforts marked the first time in SEC play Vivians has shot better than 50 percent from the field.
In many ways, that duality is a perfect example of the Bulldogs’ season. MSU went untested in a large part of its non-conference season against teams that had no chance to beat it. The toughest games MSU played in 2015 — against Texas, Florida Gulf Coast, and South Florida — offered different looks at how it was going to move forward. Against Texas, MSU played a physical game (54 fouls called) in which offense was at a premium. A six-point loss at Austin, Texas, proved to be a positive sign of what was to come. A five-point win against Florida Gulf Coast at the Puerto Rico Classic also was encouraging because it came against an opponent that forced MSU to stop a different kind of offense, one fueled by 3-point shooting. It should be noted, though, that Whitney Knight, Florida Gulf Coast’s best player, missed her team’s first eight games and was playing in only her second game of the season against MSU.
The third game USF offered the most optimistic evaluation of MSU — at least for three quarters. For 30 minutes, MSU controlled the game against an experienced top-25 team that has one of the nation’s best players, senior guard Courtney Williams. The final 10 minutes? Well, the Bulldogs had built a big enough lead that they could withstand a six-point fourth quarter and hold on for a 68-58 victory.
There have been other ups and downs, too, that are common in a marathon. MSU survived against SMU in Puerto Rico, it earned a huge road win at Florida to open SEC play, it had a bad first quarter and lost at Missouri, and it had a bad 40 minutes and lost at Georgia.
The last nine games have offered a mixed bag. MSU was primed for an upset of No. 2 South Carolina before a state- and program-record crowd of 10,626 at the Hump, but it shot just 27.1 percent from the field in a 57-51 loss. The disappointment of coming so close in that game vanished after a 65-63 overtime victory against Tennessee in the next game. The win — MSU’s first against Tennessee — ended a 36-game losing streak in the series. The momentum grew with victories against Arkansas, LSU, and Missouri, but it disappeared again in another game that was there for the taking, a 64-58 loss to Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. A lackluster 83-60 loss to Kentucky in Starkville followed. That loss was undoubtedly the low point of the season because it dealt a huge blow to the Bulldogs’ chances of earning a chance to play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament for the first time.
Victories against Ole Miss and Vanderbilt have helped MSU regain its footing, but it can’t relax because Alabama is fighting for its postseason hopes, too. On Thursday, the Crimson Tide snapped a 42-game losing streak to the Lady Volunteers with a victory at Foster Auditorium. A victory by Alabama could drop MSU into a four-way tie with Georgia, Kentucky, and Florida if those three teams win today.
The Bulldogs don’t want to worry about tiebreakers. That’s why today’s game has to be a new beginning. While MSU has done well to build on last season, it hasn’t moved forward in a number of areas. The team enters today’s game shooting the same percentage from the field — 40.5 percent — as it was entering the Ole Miss game last season. While Dominique Dillingham’s scoring is up from 5.7 ppg. to 7.9 ppg this season, she is shooting 35.4 percent from the field, which is only .2 percent better than last season.
MSU also needs more from its forward combination of Richardson and Ketara Chapel. A year ago, they were averaging 13.6 ppg. and 8.7 rebounds. This season, they are averaging 11.1 ppg. and 7.5 rebounds. You could argue Vivians’ growth has absorbed the difference, but it is a risky proposition to suggest MSU can continue at this pace with Vivians, sophomore point guard Morgan William, and Dillingham, who is playing a league-high 38.4 minutes per game in SEC play, shouldering as big of a load as they are carrying.
The growth of junior Chinwe Okorie has been another positive. The 6-5 center from Nigeria is shooting 56.7 percent from the field, which is up from 43.3 percent at this time last season. She has worked well with freshman Teaira McCowan, but both players also have missed their share of baskets at the rim that could have made a difference in a few of MSU’s losses.
But what is done is done. MSU has to decide how it wants this season to be remembered. If it plays with the energy and intensity it had against South Carolina, there is no denying it has the potential to beat just about any team in the nation, as long as it makes a few more shots. It also has to realize it can’t afford any more performances like it delivered against Kentucky.
Two years ago, MSU peaked at the right time and played some of its best basketball, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, where it lost on a 3-pointer at the buzzer by USF’s Williams. A year ago, MSU took the next step in reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament before bowing out to Duke at Durham, North Carolina.
This season, MSU can’t be content with its national rankings and its great crowds. It can’t be satisfied with coming close against nationally ranked teams, or think next season will be even better with the addition of Oklahoma State transfer Roshunda Johnson and freshman Jacaira “Iggy” Allen.
Schaefer understands there are no guarantees for next season. He also knows his juniors will be seniors and his sophomore will be juniors in 2016-17. The Bulldogs have had plenty of lessons this season to help them grow up. Twenty-nine games into the 2015-16 season, it is time to take the next step.
Adam Minichino is sports editor of The Dispatch. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.