STARKVILLE — Mississippi State followed its script Sunday.
Facing a severely overmatched Central Arkansas team that hadn’t played a major conference opponent closer than 14 points this year, Nikki McCray Penson’s Bulldogs (5-1) rolled to a 72-49 throttling of the visiting Sugar Bears (2-6) Sunday at Humphrey Coliseum. Yet while Sunday’s game added another rout to MSU’s current ledger, it reinforced the miscues of games past.
“I talked to our team about being efficient,” McCray-Penson said postgame. “I want players that are going to make shots and make the shots that they take consistently and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Through five games this year, the Bulldogs haven’t really been tested aside from an overtime loss at No. 23 South Florida two weeks ago. But in blowouts of Jackson State, Southern, Troy, New Orleans and, now, Central Arkansas the same issues persist.
MSU made just one of its first seven shots and three of its first 10, notched double-digit turnovers for the sixth time this season and allowed the Sugar Bears to hang around enough by way of a 22-of-24 free throw shooting performance. Thanks to a monster afternoon from junior forward Jessika Carter, the Bulldogs found some breathing room, though not in one of their prettiest outings.
“Coach McCray has been on me about just being patient in the paint and slowing down, reading the defense” Carter said postgame. “So I feel like my teammates got me the ball a lot and I just read the defense and what they gave me.”
A season ago, then-head coach Vic Schaefer maligned his team for youth and immaturity despite the talent the roster possessed. Change was again inevitable in 2020-21 as McCray-Penson took over an already young squad and instituted a faster, more free flowing offensive system. But as was the case a season ago, MSU continues to prove its own worst enemy.
Sunday, the Bulldogs were messy offensively. Eight first half turnovers coupled with a sloppy shooting start gave Central Arkansas a momentary breath of life, albeit one that was quickly ripped away. Sunday’s contest also continued MSU’s streak of double-digit turnovers in every game this season.
The offense found momentary flow in the form of Carter, who notched her 14th career double-double and continues to look like a legitimate All-American candidate en route to a 29-point, 15-rebound performance.
“I think I’ve slowed down a lot more and I feel like I’m not always relying on my fadeaway,” Carter said of how she’s progressed from last year to now. “I feel like that’s a plus.”
But while Carter continued her recent tear, other layers of the Bulldog offense looked lost. Rickea Jackson, who was averaging a smidge below 20 points per game entering the contest, was just 2-of-10 from the floor midway through the third quarter and finished with just seven points and two made field goals.
The usually sure-handed Myah Taylor also looked slightly out of sorts as she notched her first two-turnover game of the year, bringing her absurd 26:1 assist-to-turnover ratio down to a still outlandish 9:1.
Holistically, rebounding was again an issue for the size-advantaged Bulldogs. Though the season is still in its infancy, McCray-Penson has spent the bulk of her early season press conferences harping on MSU’s inability to dominate the paint. Sunday, the Bulldogs narrowly out-rebounded a Sugar Bears squad that boasted just one player standing 6-foot-2 or taller compared to the Bulldogs’ five.
In all, MSU added another rout to its current resume, but with league play quickly approaching –10 days to be exact — the issues seen Sunday and throughout the early going won’t end in blowouts against Southeastern Conference foes.
“There’s some things we need to do and get better,” McCray-Penson said of whether MSU is ready for SEC play, which begins after a 10-day layoff over Christmas. “If we defend and rebound, I think we’ll be in a position to win games, because we’re talented enough to do that. If we don’t, we won’t.”
MSU is back in action in its Southeastern Conference opener at 6 p.m. on Dec. 31 against Georgia on the road.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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