Tuesday was a very good day for the No. 5 Mississippi State women’s basketball team.
If you know Vic Schaefer, though, the MSU coach isn’t going to celebrate the awards he and his players received from The Associated Press and the Southeastern Conference coaches for very long.
In fact, Schaefer may have turned the page at 8:23 p.m. Tuesday when he was in his office watching film from his team’s 68-64 victory against South Carolina on Sunday in Columbia, South Carolina. The win clinched a second-consecutive SEC regular-season championship. It also helped secure the No. 1 seed for this week’s SEC tournament outright.
“We were so lethargic in that first quarter at South Carolina,” Schaefer said. “We have got to learn from that and come out and be better.”
As Schaefer and his coaching staff continue to watch film to prepare, the Bulldogs will have some time to savor the latest round of awards. Senior center Teaira McCowan led the way by being named SEC Player of the Year by The AP and the league’s coaches. McCowan, who was a first-team All-SEC by The AP and the league coaches, was a unanimous selection by The AP. McCowan also was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year by the league coaches. It is the second-straight year McCowan has been named SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
“Teaira is very deserving without question,” Schaefer said of his 6-foot-7 center, who last season was named the inaugural Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. “She has had that kind of year. Night in and night out she does it on both ends.”
McCowan is the first MSU player to claim SEC Player of the Year honors as voted on by the league’s coaches since LaToya Thomas in 2003.
McCowan led the SEC in rebounding at 13.4 per game. She was fifth in the league in scoring at 17.3 points per game. The Brenham, Texas, native has broken MSU’s career records for rebounds (1,404) and double-doubles (63). She also holds MSU’s record with nine career SEC weekly honors. Her 65.4 percent field goal percentage is fifth in the nation.
Defensively, she is eighth nationally in blocked shots per game (2.4) and was second in the league in defensive rebounds per game (7.6).
Schaefer joined McCowan in collecting top honors, as The AP named the seventh-year head coach the SEC Coach of the Year. Schaefer shared the award with Kentucky’s Matthew Mitchell in voting by the league coaches. It is the third time in five seasons Schaefer has received the award for being the league’s top coach.
Graduate student Anriel Howard was named a first-team All-SEC performer by The AP and the league coaches. Senior guard Jazzmun Holmes rounded out the Bulldogs’ honorees by earning a spot on the SEC’s All-Defensive team.
Howard, a transfer from Texas A&M, finished ninth in the SEC in scoring (15.9 ppg.) and fifth in rebounding (8.4 rpg.), making her and McCowan the only teammates to rank among the top 10 in the conference in scoring and rebounding. She had six games with 20 or more points and scored in double figures 23 times.
“Anriel has had a great year, and we are so blessed to have her,” Schaefer said. “She has had an incredible year. To average 16 points and nine rebounds in this league, it is awfully hard to do.”
Holmes recorded a team-high 58 steals and ranked fifth in steals per game (2.0) while leading the league’s No. 2 scoring defense (57.0 ppg.).
“Jazz being on the all-defensive team is very deserving,” Schaefer said. “Not only is she running our team averaging five assists a game and only one turnover, but she is more than ready to guard who I need her to guard. She welcomes that challenge, much like Ro(shunda Johnson) did last year. I am proud of her, and certainly, again, I think it is very deserving.”
Schaefer also referenced Johnson, who played a key role in the 2017-18 team’s program-record 37-win season and the program’s second consecutive appearance in the national title game, when talking about senior guard Jordan Danberry. Despite averaging 13.3 ppg. overall and 14.3 ppg in SEC play, Danberry wasn’t a first- or a second-team selection by The AP or the league’s coaches. Johnson played a pivotal role and also didn’t receive any postseason honors.
“Jordan could easily have warranted being on either of those teams,” Schaefer said. “She averaged three-and-a-half rebounds a game and three-and-a-half assists a game and two steals a game. Those are big-time stats in the Southeastern Conference … We all know the value Roshunda brought to our team, and Jordan has had an incredible year. To average 14.4 points in the SEC after averaging 2.8 points per game last year, she deserves all of the credit in the world.”
Schaefer praised his players and the members of his coaching staff for helping him land the league’s coaching honors. He long has said he has the “best staff in the country,” and he reaffirmed that sentiment Tuesday night as the film of his team’s victory against South Carolina stretched into the second quarter.
“I appreciate all of their hard work and dedication,” Schaefer said. “We have wonderful players and a tremendous staff. That is how you get that award. I am very humbled and honored that the voters felt that way about the job we have been able to do at Mississippi State.”
With that comment and several more, Schaefer was set to get back to watching film. There was no telling how long he was going to watch film or how many notes he was going to add to his files. But hours after MSU received seven awards from the league coaches to help cap a 27-2 (15-1 in the SEC) regular season, preparation already had started to help MSU get better for its next game at 11 a.m. Friday (SEC Network) in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. MSU will take on the winner of the game between LSU and Tennessee, which will be at 11 a.m. Thursday (SEC Network).
“Anytime you can show them film no matter when it is I think that is what you have to do,” said Schaefer, who added the Bulldogs shot Tuesday and will practice Wednesday before leaving for the SEC tournament. “I think for us the important thing is we have to see what we did wrong and we have got to fix it.”
Follow Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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