STARKVILLE — Vic Schaefer looked perplexed.
The Mississippi State women’s basketball coach usually chooses his words carefully and gives thought to everything he says in media availabilities, which is why he typically has a thoughtful answer prepared for just about every question.
On Wednesday, though, Schaefer needed a few extra seconds to give his assessment of his team’s progress through the first nine games.
“I don’t know if confounded is the word, but I am still trying to figure it out,” Schaefer said. “We average 93 points a game, I think, and I don’t think we’re that good offensively. We’ve shown flashes of being good defensively like against Texas and Virginia and then against Marquette, for whatever reason, we weren’t very good.”
You wouldn’t think MSU (9-0) would have many concerns after moving up one spot to No. 5 in The Associated Press Top 25. But Schaefer judges himself and his program by a different standard, especially when you consider MSU has walked away disappointed after losing in the national title game the last two seasons. That’s why Schaefer sees plenty of room for improvement as his team wraps up final exams and continues preparations for its game against Southern Mississippi (6-3) at 6 p.m. Friday in Hattiesburg.
“From a progression standpoint, I really felt really good until we had the hiccup with Marquette,” Schaefer said. “I think the challenge now is we have to go back to work and fix it. If you think it’s not going to rear its ugly head again, you’re sadly mistaken.”
MSU is coming off its closest game to date, an 87-82 victory against then-No. 18 Marquette last Thursday at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville. While pleased with the play of senior center Teaira McCowan and graduate student Anriel Howard, who combined for 53 points and 30 rebounds in the victory, Schaefer wasn’t happy with how the Golden Eagles pushed the tempo and scored in transition. Marquette finished with 21 fast-break points, which Schaefer said is the most one of his teams has given up in a very long time. After a workout last Friday, Schaefer said he gave his players the weekend off. He said the Bulldogs “knocked some rust off” Monday and didn’t have a good practice Tuesday. He said he hoped for better Wednesday before the team finalized its game plan for Southern Miss.
The game against Southern Miss kicks off the team’s longest time away from home this season. MSU will leave Sunday for a road trip that will see it play No. 7 Oregon on Tuesday and Washington on Thursday. MSU won’t play after that until a game against Louisiana on Dec. 30 in Starkville.
Schaefer knew MSU would be a young team this season when he made up a schedule that saw it play five of its first six games at home. At the time he finalized the schedule, Schaefer didn’t know Howard would transfer from Texas A&M or if Connecticut transfer Andra Espinoza-Hunter would be eligible to play. As a result, he said he wanted a schedule that gave him opportunities to play younger players early in the season. He said his plan was to have the schedule heat up in December to help get the Bulldogs ready for Southeastern Conference play. MSU will take on Arkansas at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 3, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in its first league game.
In all, MSU’s schedule features 13 teams that played in the NCAA tournament last season, including seven non-conference foes. MSU already owns two victories — then-No. 10 Texas and Marquette — against teams in The AP Top 25.
Despite Schaefer’s uncertainty about his team’s progression, MSU leads the SEC in nine of 17 primary statistical categories, including scoring offense (93 points per game), scoring defense (51.2), and field goal shooting percentage (51.9). The Bulldogs also rank in the top 20 nationally in 12 of those categories.
“I think the games have progressively gotten a little bit harder,” Howard said. “I think Texas helped us a little bit, and this last game was really good. It was very aggressive and it was fast, and that is how the SEC is.”
The next three games should provide a great taste of what the SEC is going to be like for the Bulldogs. Schaefer hopes his players focus on the next two days of practice and take time to digest the film of the game against Marquette to correct the mistakes they made. If the Bulldogs do that, Schaefer will feel a lot more settled about his team’s fortunes as the clock continues to tick to the SEC opener.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino 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 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.