The wins and the frequent flier miles are piling up for the Mississippi State women’s basketball team.
Following a 58-44 victory against Little Rock on Tuesday in Little Rock, Arkansas, MSU got up at 4:45 a.m. Wednesday and flew out of Little Rock at 7 a.m. to fly to Atlanta, where it turned around and hopped on another plane for a four-hour flight to California.
By the time the whirlwind ended at around noon Wednesday (Los Angeles time), the Bulldogs had played in their fifth state and started the final leg of a journey that will see them log 17,190 miles before the start of Southeastern Conference play next month.
MSU coach Vic Schaefer said his team worked out for a little more than an hour Wednesday and had a two-hour workout Thursday morning to help it prepare for its game against SMU at 10 tonight in the first round of the Women of Troy Classic. The winner of that game will play the winner of the game between Grambling State and Southern California at 3 p.m. Sunday.
From there, No. 5 MSU will return home to play host to Alabama State at 7 p.m. Tuesday. It will be the Bulldogs’ second home game of the season, and last action prior to the Christmas break. MSU will wrap up its non-conference schedule with a game against Northwestern State at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 28. It will play host to LSU at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017, in its SEC opener.
Schaefer credited his players for their ability to continue to compete at a high level throughout all of the travel, but he admitted his team is still trying to find a way to put 40 minutes together.
“It’s a focus issue more than anything,” Schaefer said. “It seems like in every different city somebody has family or friends. … I am not saying those kids necessarily with friends and family are distracted, but we just have had a really unique situation with our schedule, and it is why they call it the road life on the road.”
Schaefer joked that the Bulldogs likely could come up with some pretty good lyrics to a song about life on the road. The latest refrain likely would include a few words about the win against Little Rock that saw MSU close the game with a 13-4 run in the last 5 minutes, 14 seconds to earn a quality victory against an opponent that was picked second in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll.
Blair Schaefer sparked the surge with a 3-pointer that helped MSU improve to 10-0. The Bulldogs are the SEC’s last undefeated team and highest ranked team in The Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. Victoria Vivians followed with the next eight points to seal the deal.
Vivians’ play down the stretch helped her finish with a team-high 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting. It erased a slow start by the Bulldogs that saw them lead 25-24 at halftime.
“I loved our toughness in that game,” Schaefer said. “I thought on a night that we didn’t do some things well early we hung in there and I really liked our toughness. I thought our toughness really showed. Our press bothered them, and I thought we played hard in the press and forced some turnovers (21) and were good in the second half in our half-court defense. I thought we got some things going in transition with Victoria. I thought our execution down the stretch was outstanding.”
Despite still trying to find greater consistency, Schaefer said the team’s experience has allowed him to put things in at shootaround and have the players execute those plays in games. He said he and his coaches continue to stress the importance of execution and “little things” like boxing out. Schaefer said the players understand why the coaches are emphasizing attention to detail because they know every team on the schedule will give the Bulldogs their best shot. That figures to continue tonight, when MSU takes on SMU (6-3), which defeated then-No. 25 Texas at home on Dec. 5. Alicia Froling leads the team and is one of just two players in the American Athletic Conference averaging a double-double with 16.1 points and a league-high 10.8 rebounds per game. McKenzie Adams is scoring 11.4 points per game.
Schaefer said the reminders for his players will continue because he and associate head coach Johnnie Harris have “been around the block” and don’t need a loss to get their attention, so he doesn’t want the Bulldogs to feel like it is OK to let up, even if they are feeling the effects of spending nearly all of the first two months of the season on the road.
“Our kids are competitive and they want to win,” Schaefer said. “If we do stumble, somebody is going to have to beat us and we’re going to have to contribute to it where we turn it over a lot or miss a bunch of shots. As you saw the other night, we struggled early offensively but really came on late and our defense was pretty solid most of the night. I hope that always is going to be the case for us. That has been part of my frustration because I have won a lot of games 52-48, 50-46, 48-44. I don’t typically lose those games, and we didn’t the other night.”
n In related news, MSU will hold its annual Christmas Hail State Hoops Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday prior to the game against Alabama State.
The luncheon costs $12 per person and includes a meal, hoops talk with coach Schaefer and his staff, and the Hail State Hoops version of the “12 Days of Christmas.”
Mize Pavilion doors open at 11:15 a.m.
The game will be $1 Night, with tickets and hot dogs each costing $1.
Fans can take photos with Santa and the Golden Egg before the game. Santa also will read “Twas The Night Before Christmas” on the court at halftime.
MSU encourages fans to bring stuffed teddy bears to throw on the court at halftime during the first Teddy Bear Toss by BancorpSouth. The teddy bears will be collected and donated to local children via the Salvation Army and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.
Fans can purchase the $1 tickets in advance on hailstate.com/tickets or at the ticket office on gameday.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
