GREENVILLE, S.C. — With tears percolating in her eyes, a somber Aliyah Matharu took the stage in the underbelly of Bon Secours Wellness Arena Sunday.
As the victorious cheers from the South Carolina faithful crept into the press conference room beneath the stadium, Matharu voiced her displeasure with MSU’s 76-62 loss to the No. 1 ranked Gamecocks in the Southeastern Conference Tournament Finals.
“Tonight was just another obstacle for us,” she said. “We didn’t do our best. I know going forward in practice, we’re going to get better from this. We’re going to use this as fuel. We got to prepare and get ready for the tournament.”
As Matharu left the podium and coach Vic Schaefer began to field questions, the anguish of defeat left the 59-year old coach’s face. Rather, there was a quiet pride in his freshman guard.
“I think you see Aliyah, she’s crying,” Schaefer said. “She’s upset. (It) bothers her. I love it.”
For Schaefer, moments such as this have transpired in waves this season. Boasting a squad that welcomed six newcomers to the roster, the 2020 season was bound for a slight step-back after the Bulldogs lost All-American center Teaira McCowan, first team All-SEC selection Anriel Howard and SEC All-Defensive team honoree Jazzmun Holmes.
In response, Schaefer has spent countless hours in his office and on the practice floor trying to coax out what he believes the 2020 Bulldogs should be — an effort he’s quipped on multiple occasions might kill him.
“It may be a miserable way to live — I can tell you most days it is for about five months a year.” he said. “At the end of the day, I have no desire just to be okay.”
There have been flashes of brilliance, sure. Rickea Jackson’s 29-point effort against Kentucky in the SEC Tournament Semifinals and Matharu’s late season surge that earned her the final SEC Freshman of the Week honors on March 2, are the most recent examples.
But it’s the smaller instances of growth that have helped Schaefer maintain his sanity — a piece of which played out on the stage in Greenville Sunday.
Speaking candidly, Matharu expressed her aggravation with the team’s energy as South Carolina jumped out to a 16-point halftime lead. Trying to coax her teammates from the bench, she was unsure if they could even hear her as the partial South Carolina crowd drowned her out.
“When I got the chance to get in the game, I’m like, ‘Yo, we need some energy,'” she said. “Now it’s time to pick it up. We got to put our big boy pants on, we got to go out here and we got to play.”
Laughing at the initial comment, Schaefer addressed Matharu’s words as she exited the media room minutes later.
“I mean, I love Aliyah Matharu,” he said. “That kid has worked really hard to get herself better and to try to fit into our system. To hear her talk about defense, ‘put your big boy pants on,’ she’s been listening.”
Beyond the postgame press conference, Schaefer’s approach to Sunday’s fourth quarter also gave onlookers a glimpse of MSU’s future.
With the Bulldogs trailing by 22 heading into the fourth quarter, the eighth-year head coach trotted out a lineup of Matharu, freshman guard JaMya Mingo-Young, sophomore forward Xaria Wiggins, junior college transfer center Yemiyah Morris, and senior guard Jordan Danberry.
Reminiscent of the lineup he uses during MSU’s four minute “Bulldog” drill it runs in practice in which players run a full-court scrimmage and points are granted based on how many seconds remain on the shot clock in an attempt to get the team running, Schaefer offered some tongue-in-cheek insight at the outcome of those affairs.
“We put those freshmen out there together with Yemiyah and let them go against our veterans,” he said. “You’d be amazed who wins most of those games.”
As is the case in Humphrey Coliseum, the Bulldogs outscored South Carolina’s veterans 23-15 in the final frame and pulled the final deficit to 14.
“Those kids, they play together and compete together,” Schaefer said. “They have good chemistry together.”
With the NCAA tournament now two weeks away, the growth of MSU’s newcomers is evident. And while the Bulldogs do boast a plethora of inexperience when it comes to March Madness, Schaefer still bears the same confidence he had in his squad a season ago after it earned a second-straight No. 1 seed.
“Our expectations don’t change,” he said. “I think that’s probably the biggest thing we’ve shown everybody this year. I think everybody thought, ‘Oh, God, they’re probably not going to be very good, they’re going to be way down, they’re going to be young.’ I think we’ve probably shown most of the country, including our conference, we’re not that far removed from where we were a year ago.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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