STARKVILLE — Vic Schaefer feels his Mississippi State women’s basketball team is right where it is supposed to be.
Second-seeded MSU’s matchup against third-seeded Washington (29-5) at 6 tonight (ESPN2) in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament’s Oklahoma City Regional is the culmination of a journey that began last March with a 98-38 loss to eventual national champion Connecticut in the Sweet 16 of the Bridgeport Regional.
As much as Schaefer would like to forget that game, he acknowledges it raised the bar and served as motivation for his players to take it further. The result has been another record-breaking season that has seen MSU (31-4) climb as high as No. 2 in the USA Today Coaches poll, set school records for overall and Southeastern Conference victories (13), and advance to the NCAA tournament for a school-best third-consecutive season.
“From day one, this is kind of what was expected,” Schaefer said. “We had the Army guys come in here and put us through two days of boot camp. This is what we had in mind. We wanted that toughness piece, that togetherness piece, that chemistry piece, that bond. I think that is what you’re seeing in these last two games is some great chemistry with our entire team. We are a really good team.”
MSU hopes to ride the momentum it gained from a 110-69 victory against Troy and a 92-71 victory against DePaul. Both games came at Humphrey Coliseum, where MSU drew a combined crowd of 11,150, which was the fourth-best overall attendance of the 16 host sites. MSU’s crowd of 6,035 was the seventh-highest total of all sessions in the first and second round. The top 16 seeds in the tournament earned the right to play host to the first two rounds.
MSU will look to build on that momentum against Washington, which tied Stanford for second place (15-3) in the Pacific-12 Conference behind regular-season champion Oregon State. Senior guard Kelsey Plum, the nation’s leading scorer (31.8 points per game) leads the Huskies. In February, Plum passed former Southwest Missouri State All-American Jackie Stiles as the all-time leading scorer in women’s college basketball. In a victory against sixth-seeded Oklahoma on Monday, Plum eclipsed Stiles’ single-season scoring mark.
“You better have more than one plan going in with her so if one doesn’t work you can go to the next one,” Schaefer said. “I think we will be multi-dimensional going in. You can say you want to limit her touches when she is the point guard bringing it up. … Once that ball is in her hands, she is really making some great decisions with the ball. If you go under on screens, she can knock down the threes. If you go over and get hit, she is going to get it to the rim. If you come off and help, she is going to find where the help came from. That is a problem defensively, so you better be able to handle some things to keep her from doing that.”
Senior center Chantel Osahor also leads the nation in rebounding (15.4 per game), so Schaefer and his players know they will be challenged. But a non-conference schedule that included more than 17,000 miles was designed to prepare the Bulldogs for this time of the year. The tougher schedule has tested an experienced team and helped it to build chemistry. That cohesiveness was on display last weekend, as Schaefer shuffled his starting lineup and paired junior guard Blair Schaefer, his daughter; redshirt junior Roshunda Johnson, sophomore Teaira McCowan, and senior Ketara Chapel with junior Morgan William. Schaefer responded with a career-high 21 points against Troy, while backup point guard Jazzmun Holmes had a career-high 14 points and handed out six assists against DePaul.
“I think our kids are, ‘Hey, this is the way it is, let’s be ready. If I am on the bench, I have to be ready,’ ” Schaefer said. “The bench has been ready for them all year. Those kids coming off the bench the first of the year have been ready and they have answered the call. They have helped us all year. Now, all of a sudden, it is flip-flopped and everybody thinks it is such a big deal. It is really not. These kids are probably playing the same amount of minutes, it is just in a little different start.”
Schaefer said Holmes also played well against Troy, but Holmes didn’t think so. He said she immediately pointed out to him she committed five turnovers and that she needed to be better. Schaefer said that maturation has been key to the team’s development.
“That is a sign of growth for her to be accountable,” Schaefer said. “She bounces back Sunday and plays great. This creates competition.”
Schaefer said that competition has created “an edge” that has his players uncomfortable. He said that is a good thing because players typically reach their potential when they’re uncomfortable.
Schaefer said MSU will need that “edge” against his good friend Mike Neighbors’ Huskies. He said the last two games have bolstered his confidence and made him feel like MSU has two sets of playbooks for two sets of players, especially at the small forward and shooting guard. The development of players like Holmes and McCowan has fostered that confidence.
“I think that is helping us keep people off balance,” Schaefer said. “I can go to two completely different philosophies with these two and cross over a little bit, but not completely. One group is a lot better at doing something than the other group. The other group is a lot better at doing something than this group. I think the constant is my (centers). (They were) 8-for-15 (from the field) and (had) 18 rebounds Sunday. And my point guards have been really good.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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