OXFORD — If ever there was a time for a bounce-back win, the No. 14 Mississippi State women’s basketball team needed one Sunday.
Fresh off the sting of an embarrassing 23-point loss to then-No. 16 Kentucky at Humphrey Coliseum, MSU turned to its biggest offensive weapon to provide a spark against its archrival. Victoria Vivians didn’t disappoint, scoring a game-high 22 points and adding a game-high 10 rebounds to lead MSU to a 60-51 victory against Ole Miss before a crowd of 4,411 at The Pavilion at Ole Miss.
Dominique Dillingham added 12 points and five rebounds, and Morgan William had 10 points, five rebounds, and seven assists to help MSU (22-6, 9-5 Southeastern Conference) snap a two-game losing streak. Losses by Auburn and Florida on Sunday moved MSU into sole possession of third place in the SEC behind South Carolina and Texas A&M with two regular-season games remaining.
“It has been a hard three, four days for us,” Schaefer said. “We had a really bad game Thursday, and I am really proud of them for how they responded today.”
MSU took the first step following an 83-60 loss to Kentucky with a 5 a.m. practice Friday. The early morning training was the Bulldogs’ first workout at time this season. According to Dillingham, MSU practiced for three hours, 15 minutes and then returned to the court in the afternoon for a 50-minute workout. The practices helped the Bulldogs hit the re-set button after the demoralizing home loss.
“It was death,” Dillingham said of the 5 a.m. practice. “There are no words to describe it. It was tough, but I think it was a stepping stone for us. I think it took a lot of toughness for us to come back early from getting beat so badly and to come in the with the right mind-set to get better.”
MSU showed better energy, effort, and focus against Ole Miss (10-17, 2-12). The difference was most noticeable on defense, as the Bulldogs limited the Rebels to 26.3-percent shooting (15 of 57) from the field. MSU countered with a 51.1-percent shooting effort (24 of 47) from the field. Efforts by post players Chinwe Okorie (nine points, eight rebounds) and Teaira McCowan (five points, three blocked shots) helped give MSU an inside presence that balanced the perimeter efforts of Vivians.
“My minister told me to move on,” Schaefer said, “and we moved on. We had our 5 a.m. practice Friday and we got after it for three hours. We came back Friday afternoon and went after it again and then we moved on.”
Schaefer said he told his players he was hurt but he wasn’t mad after the Kentucky game. Like he said following the game against Kentucky, he said he knows his team and felt confident the right MSU squad was going to show up Sunday afternoon.
Schaefer had that confidence in part because Vivians looked more comfortable. Even though she attracted plenty of attention against a box-and-one defense, the 6-foot-1 guard hit three of the biggest shots to keep Ole Miss at bay. After the Rebels trimmed the deficit to 45-40 early in the fourth quarter, Vivians hit a jump shot and followed it up with a 3-pointer from the left wing that kissed off the side of the backboard.
Later in the quarter, she hit another jumper off an inbounds pass from William to push the Bulldogs’ advantage back to eight. She added a steal and a layup that essentially was the final dagger.
“We knew we had a challenge,” said Vivians, who had her second double-double of the season and the sixth of her career. “We came in there and knew what we had to do. We had to go hard the past couple of days to get ready for this game and, like (Schaefer) said, (realize) the Kentucky game was in the past and prepare for the next (game).”
Schaefer has said several times this season that Vivians is the hardest-guarded player in the nation. As a result, she often gets extra attention and defenses sag on her side or hedge to the corner when she is running the baseline. Schaefer said there shouldn’t be sophomores who have to carry a load like that, but he said that is the reality for this MSU team.
“I think my team gains confidence when Victoria plays well. When she is streaking down the court in transition and going and getting a layup or creating something or making a big shot, I think my team is uplifted. That is the impact a young player like herself has.”
Dillingham agreed that the Bulldogs play better when Vivians is clicking on offense. The 22 points Vivians had Sunday were her most since she had 23 against Auburn on Jan. 7. Her 10-of-18 shooting performance from the field was her second 50-plus percent shooting performance from the field in SEC play.
“She is just a player,” Schaefer said. “She will tell you she has not been playing great, but that is what great players do. They stay after it.
“She doesn’t run from it. She is not shy from it. She is experienced at it. She had to do it all in high school, so she accepts that every day.”
Schaefer pointed to the open looks McCowan was able to get and the open jump shots Dillingham had as examples of what happens when teams pay so much attention to Vivians. He said he spoke to her prior to the game and encouraged her to “turn it loose” and not to worry about the shots she misses.
Ole Miss coach Matt Insell went as far as to call Vivians “Batman” in his post-game news conference. He said the presence of a “Batman” makes it easier for the other players on a team, or “Robins,” as he called them, to make contributions.
“She has struggled a lot this year. She hasn’t shot the ball very well as of late, but I have a lot of respect for her because she’s a good player,” Insell said. “We were there and she made a shot. Every time we cut it to five, she made a shot. We were there and she just made them. That’s what great players do. She didn’t do anything special or anything we haven’t seen. All she did was come off two low staggers and jumped up and made shots. She’s like Stefan Moody from our men’s team. He makes tough shots. That’s why they’re successful. We have to get to a point where we make tough shots. We had it at five there at the end and I called a timeout and told them to regroup and get right because we had a chance to make a push. Vivians then goes and makes a big three, then banks a shot in off balance. That’s what she’s supposed to do, make shots, and she did.”
Dillingham felt the team had two good days of practice to erase the memory of the latest loss. She said effort was the biggest difference she saw from the team’s loss to then-No. 16 Kentucky and its performance against Ole Miss. She said the nature of the rivalry between the Bulldogs and the Rebels helped both teams come in with better focus and more intensity. She felt the Bulldogs played with a lot of effort and were “doing what we do,” playing hard-nosed defense and denying passes.
“We just never quit from the start,” Dillingham said. “I think it is just focus and preparing in practice. If you don’t prepare in practice, you’re going to prepare to fail. … We just have to be ready for every game and be focused. Sometimes we come out a little flat. We have to pick up our energy. Energy and effort are the main things.”
After closing the chapter on Kentucky, Schaefer hopes his team is ready to move on. He said his players “have some pride to them,” so he believed he would see a different team than the one he saw last time out in Starkville. To say he was a little relieved would be an understatement.
“After the ballgame, everybody was upset and I took a long time getting to the locker room because I wanted to make sure I digested everything,” Schaefer said, describing the aftermath to the game against Kentucky. “I think anybody that was in that press conference could see I was visibly concerned, so we have moved on. We got after it. I am so proud of our kids. They worked hard Friday morning. We came back (Saturday) and had great focus. We had a good shootaround (Sunday). I am just really pleased with how we played today. I thought we gutted out a road win. You win on the road in the SEC and you take them because it is like winning a game and a half.”
The win was MSU’s fifth straight in the series. It sets the stage for a huge game against Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. Thursday. A victory would move MSU one step closer to wrapping up a top-four seed and a double bye for the SEC tournament, which begins March 2 in Jacksonville, Florida.
MSU will close the regular season at 1:30 p.m. Sunday with a game against Alabama at Humphrey Coliseum.
NOTE: MSU will hold a Hail State Hoops luncheon at 11:30 today at Mize Pavilion. The cost is $12, and fans can RSVP by phone, 662-325-0198, or email, [email protected].
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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