STARKVILLE — Makayla Epps couldn’t help but smile.
Unaccustomed to sitting on the bench in pivotal junctures, the Kentucky junior guard didn’t look worried or the least bit fazed that she wasn’t on the court in the third quarter helping her teammates in a big game against Mississippi State. In fact, Epps looked like she was having fun watching her teammates build what was a 10-point lead when she left the game into a 19-point cushion by the end of period.
Across the court, there weren’t any smiles on the MSU bench. You only needed to look at the body language of coach Vic Schaefer, who was slumped in his chair for most of the second half, to tell this was a night to forget for the Bulldogs.
Maci Morris had a game-high 17 points and Epps added 16 to pace four players in double figures in No. 16 Kentucky’s 83-60 victory against No. 14 MSU on Thursday before a crowd of 4,355 at Humphrey Coliseum.
Taylor Murray had 13 points and Alexis Jennings had 12 to help Kentucky (18-6, 7-6 Southeastern Conference) earn a key road victory in a showdown of two of the league’s top programs.
“Being on the bench in foul trouble is not something I want to put my team through because we are already limited in numbers, but to sit over there and watch them handle their business — these two (Taylor Murray and Maci Morris) played great — I love seeing that,” Epps said. “At one point I was over there cheering and I felt like their biggest cheerleader.”
Epps didn’t need an effort like the 42-point outburst she had against MSU last season in a double-overtime victory in Lexington, Kentucky. It even wasn’t necessary for Epps to score 31 like she did against the Bulldogs in a victory in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament. The Wildcats had plenty of weapons and answers on a night in which they outplayed the Bulldogs in every facet en route to their 10th-straight victory in the series.
“I don’t think we’re real tough right now,” Schaefer said. “I think we’re soft. We’re satisfied. I think we’re complacent. I think we got it way too good. Sometimes with a young, immature team like we have, that can grow and manifest itself, and I think that is where awe are right now. I think we have to get a little uncomfortable and we have to get back to working and doing what we do that has helped us win over the course of our time here.”
The loss was MSU’s worst since a 73-35 setback to No. 21 Texas A&M on Jan. 19, 2014, in College Station, Texas. It was MSU’s biggest loss at Humphrey Coliseum since a 63-41 loss to LSU on Feb. 17, 2013, Schaefer’s first season in Starkville. MSU also suffered a 51-point loss at Vanderbilt and a 53-point loss at Kentucky in 2013-14. Since then, though, the Bulldogs have made significant strides, which made it even more disappointing that the Wildcats took the fight to the Bulldogs in such an important game.
While the loss dropped MSU eight spots to No. 32 in the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), it also denied the Bulldogs a chance to earn a victory that would have bolstered their resume and improved their chances to play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. It also dropped MSU into a tie with Auburn and Florida for third in the SEC behind South Carolina and Texas A&M. MSU owns the tiebreaker with both teams, so it is still in good position to earn a double bye for the SEC tournament, which begins March 2 in Jacksonville, Florida.
But the Bulldogs have little margin for error. Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee are tied at 7-6. MSU has regular-season games remaining at Ole Miss, at Vanderbilt, and at home against Alabama to regain its momentum.
Schaefer didn’t want to talk about future plans or the possibility of playing host to the NCAA tournament for the first time. Instead, MSU’s fourth-year head coach was more concerned about a lackluster effort he didn’t see coming but realized was possible, even to the extent the Bulldogs were outhustled on their home court.
“I see it every day, so I know what I am dealing with,” Schaefer said. “A lot of times in (the media room) we try to be positive and say the right things, but, at the same time, I can’t hang my laundry out here in front of everybody. I know what I have in (the locker room), so this is what happens.
“It has been a long time since I have had people walking out of the Hump with a lot of time left, and I wanted to go with them. I am embarrassed. I am very disappointed. I am disappointed for my fans. … As the head coach, I have to wear the responsibility of a night like tonight, so I will.”
Schaefer said the starting unit wasn’t playing hard and guarding, which is why four of the five played less than their usual total. He said he was disappointed in a “number of position players,” and he felt the Bulldogs weren’t getting any effort.
“I don’t want to coach your heart. I want to coach your mind,” Schaefer said. “There was a lot of energy being used on the sideline by my staff and myself coaching peoples’ hearts. This is what happens when you deal with young people every day. It is my responsibility as a head coach. I will wear it, and I will fix it.”
When asked if he was sending a message to several of his starters by not playing them for extended minutes in the second half, Schaefer said, “I wasn’t going to sit there and watch somebody do it all night. At some point, enough is enough and you can sit. Other people were playing better, quite honestly, so why not give them a shot.”
Breanna Richardson had 13 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench, which tied her career high. Victoria Vivians had seven points on 3-of-11 shooting in 13 minutes, which matched her season low, while Morgan William played her fewest minutes (21) since a victory against Western Michigan on Dec. 20, 2015. Ketara Chapel didn’t score in a season-low four minutes, and Chinwe Okorie didn’t score in 17 minutes.
Dominique Dillingham (37 minutes) was the only starter who logged her usual workload. The junior guard moved to the point for large stretches of the game with William on the bench and freshman guard Jazzmun Holmes not available. Schaefer said after the game Holmes didn’t play due to an injury.
Kayla Nevitt (12 points in a career-high 28 minutes), Blair Schaefer (six points in 21 minutes), and LaKaris Salter (eight points in eight minutes) tried to provide a spark off the bench, but MSU couldn’t overcome a 4-for-19 third quarter (21.1 percent) from the field that pushed a seven-point halftime deficit to a 19-point hole.
“It is embarrassing and disappointing to go out there and play like that in front of our home crowd, and to see people walking out and play as bad as we did,” said Dillingham, who amended her comment to say ‘any’ crowd. “We have to learn from this and move on.
“We weren’t playing hard and we weren’t getting stops on defense. They were doing whatever they wanted and we couldn’t score.”
Richardson also said she didn’t see it coming. The junior forward was one of the few Bulldogs who tried to attack the basket like the Wildcats, but she had no explanation for why the Bulldogs suffered such a disheartening loss after what she thought were two good days of practice.
“I don’t know (how it is going to go from here),” Richardson said. “I think it will be a stepping stone for us because I don’t think we are going to come out and lose like that again.”
Schaefer wasn’t so sure. He said he would know better after his team’s game against Ole Miss (4 p.m. Sunday) in Oxford how the loss was going to affect his team. After watching the 23-point loss, Schaefer said he would be excited to play MSU on Sunday.
Dillingham said the next two practices will be crucial to getting things back on track.
“We need to go hard in practice,” Dillingham said. “Some days we’re going hard, some days we’re not, so I think going hard every day and instilling it in the younger players will help us move on. Sometimes we are ready to play. Sometimes we’re not. I think we need to be ready to play at all times. Sometimes we will have three people playing hard and two people not and we will give up a basket. We have to have five people playing hard at all times.”
Epps and the Wildcats didn’t have that problem. Even though Epps said Kentucky remains a “work in progress,” it hardly looked the part, committing only four turnovers in the final 30 minutes.
Kentucky was able to move on after Epps went to the bench with her third foul with 6 minutes, 57 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Wildcats led 43-33 and slowly extended the margin thanks in part to the Bulldogs’ 0-for-10 shooting stretch.
The Wildcats also outrebounded the Bulldogs 49-34. That margin was the largest since Texas A&M had a 22-rebound edge against MSU in its 38-point victory in 2014. It came on a night when Epps could smile on the bench because the Wildcats took another step toward establishing toughness as part of their identity while the Bulldogs played without what typically is one of their staples.
“Toughness is a thing coach (Matthew) Mitchell emphasizes daily,” Epps said. “It is something we have to get better at. We have had some moments where we have been out-toughed this season. We have seen it on film, and we have watched ourselves get out-toughed and beaten on loose balls and not boxing out on rebounds, the simple, little things that can get you beat, and have gotten us beat before.
“Toughness is a thing that is going to make or break you every night. This league is tough, so if you are wimping and wilting out … we have had some moments (like that). I missed a charge tonight. That wasn’t a tough play and coach let me know it. It is stuff like that that we have to do that gets us wins. If people want to start identifying us as tough, that’s what we’re going to keep working for.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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