STARKVILLE — For 30 minutes Wednesday, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team showed it can play with one of the nation’s top teams on the road.
The challenge for MSU coach Vic Schaefer, his coaching staff, and his players is to find a way to add those other 10 minutes into the equation to make it a complete game.
It turns out the 10 minutes in question came in the opening quarter of No. 6 Texas’ 53-47 victory against No. 9 MSU at the Erwin Center. In its first game of the season against a nationally ranked opponent, MSU missed nine jump shots, committed seven of its 19 turnovers, and missed five free throws in the first 10 minutes.
Schaefer said MSU likely could have won the game if it defended four inbounds plays better and it was better from the free-throw line (11 of 20). Still, MSU trailed only 18-9 after one quarter and 26-21 at halftime and was in the game until the very end.
“We were miserable offensively,” Schaefer said. “We turned good shots into bad shots instead of good shots into great shots. We turned down open jumpers to get a contested jumper sometimes. … Give Texas credit. They really guarded us well, guarded Victoria extremely hard. When you do finally get a good, clean look, you can’t believe it because you haven’t had one all night and then you rush it.”
MSU will try to get better looks at the basket at 2 p.m. today when it plays host to Tennessee State at Humphrey Coliseum.
Schaefer liked to looks sophomore guard Victoria Vivians (team-high 12 points) had against Texas in the half-court offense, but he said the Bulldogs’ screening needs to improve, as does the shooters’ ability to use the screens more efficiently. Those factors were part of the reason Vivians was 5 of 20 from the field and was the team’s only player in double figures. Junior forward Breanna Richardson (eight points) was MSU’s next highest scorer.
“I think it is a lesson learned,” Richardson said. “I think we proved ourselves to people who doubted us and said we shouldn’t be ranked that high because we haven’t played anybody. I think we learned a lot about that we have to have multiple scoring options and our inside players, we just have to learn how to play and be smart. Coach says we have to come out and play aggressive but be smart, and I don’t think we played smart at times.”
Richardson mentioned foul trouble as one way the Bulldogs could play smarter. MSU committed 31 fouls and had centers Teaira McCowan and Chinwe Okorie foul out. Dominique Dillingham, Morgan William, and Vivians also were called for four fouls.
Texas had something to do with MSU’s foul difficulty. Six-foot-7 center Imani Boyette had a game-high 21 points. She had nine of her points from the free-throw line.
Other than Boyette, MSU held Texas in check. The Bulldogs limited the Longhorns to a season-low 39.1 percent shooting from the field and forced them to commit a season-high 23 turnovers. But MSU shot a season-low 31.5 percent from the field and had 19 turnovers.
“We got to feel a little bit like some people have felt going against us sometimes,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer wants to find a way to make things easier on Vivians, the team’s leading scorer. He said he would prefer to see her go 5 of 13 or 5 of 14 from the field. To make that happen, MSU needs a second scoring option to emerge.
When asked Friday to name MSU’s No. 2 scoring option, Schaefer didn’t have an answer. He hopes Dillingham, a junior guard, can be that player. He believes Dillingham knows he would like her to be a bigger scorer and that he believes in her, but he said he thinks she is still trying to come to grips with that role.
“The bottom line is this: We have got to find some scoring from somebody else,” Schaefer said. “We were soft as Jell-O screening. We were just not very physical. Our guards didn’t cut off the screens properly. We gave the defense way too much opportunity to chase us, guard us, because we didn’t run them off the screens right.”
Richardson hopes to be in a position to give the Bulldogs the scoring they need. Richardson had six of her points from the free-throw line thanks to aggressive moves to the basket. She said she needs to continue to bring that mentality to the court and balance it with consistency on the perimeter.
“Coach has always said I can get to the rim anytime I want to and sometimes I just settle for jumpers,” Richardson said. “I think I just have to be able to knock down open jumpers when I am open but just keep attacking.”
Despite all of the dreary numbers, MSU nearly overcame a bad night on offense to beat the No. 6 team on the road. Schaefer said he enjoyed the competitiveness and fight his players showed against Texas. In hindsight, he acknowledged the Bulldogs probably should have given the team’s inside players more looks. He also said the Bulldogs turned down numerous opportunities to pass the ball inside in an attempt to get a shot closer to the basket.
Schaefer also said he was impressed with the play of McCowan, Okorie, and senior Sherise Williams. He said all three were extremely active and did a good job against Boyette in the second half. He said the initial nerves of returning home and playing in front of family, friends, and former teammates for Texas natives like McCowan, Dillingham, and Kayla Nevitt also played into the slow start.
Schaefer said one key moving forward will be for the Bulldogs to find the balance between doing their jobs and trying to do too much.
“We just have to let the game come to us,” Schaefer said.
n In related news, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association named Vivians to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, which is given to women’s basketball’s national player of the year.
Vivians was one of 20 players from 16 schools named to the list. She joins Tennessee’s Diamond DeShields, South Carolina’s Tiffany Mitchell and A’ja Wilson, and Texas A&M’s Courtney Williams as players from the Southeastern Conference who were recognized.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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