STARKVILLE — This is the wrong time of the season to be in a funk.
For a team, one bad stretch can mean an early trip home from a conference tournament or the end of a season.
For a player, an unproductive set of minutes can result in a short stay in a game and a longer stretch on the bench to sit and watch as a teammate tries to fix what is broken.
The Mississippi State women’s basketball team’s depth this season has allowed it to overcome the ups and downs of a variety of players. As No. 11 MSU (26-5) prepares to take on No. 12 Kentucky (22-8) at 8:30 tonight (SEC Network, time approximate) in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament, it hopes sophomore Breanna Richardson can return to the form that has made her an integral part of the team’s record-setting season.
In the past six games, Richardson, a 6-foot-1 forward, is 10 of 41 from the field (24.3 percent) and is averaging 5.2 points per game. Those marks are off from her season marks for field goal percentage (41 percent) and scoring (8.2 ppg., which is fourth on the team).
“I think she is in a little bit of a funk,” MSU senior center Martha Alwal said. “Her biggest thing is whenever she messes up is she is really, really down on herself. She just needs to be able to let that go. Whenever she messes up on a play during a game, she will hold it over her head throughout the entire game. She is really, really good.
“I have said it since she first got here. She has a lot of potential. Coach (Vic) Schaefer needs to stick with her and keep being on her case all of the time, but it will come because she is only a sophomore.”
Alwal believes Richardson will progress the rest of this season and next season to emerge as the player everyone knows she can be. After all, Richardson has the shooting range to step out and be a threat from 3-point range. She also has the strength to absorb contact and finish drives to the basket.
The trouble is Richardson has been inconsistent in both areas. Against Ole Miss, she was 0-for-7 from the field. One of the misses was from 3-point range in which she came up short. Richardson is fourth on the team with 18 3-pointers and is shooting 33 percent from beyond the arc, but she often doesn’t get much lift on her jump shot and repeatedly has come up short on many of her misses.
As for ballhandling, Richardson had four turnovers in 20 minutes against Ole Miss. Richardson committed one of the turnovers when she lost the ball behind her back on an attempted drive to the basket. Many of her turnovers have come on similar plays in which Richardson tries to make something happen and either loses handle of the ball or goes too quickly and is called for traveling.
While Richardson is more of a perimeter shooting threat, classmate Ketara Chapel gives MSU something a little different. Chapel, who also is 6-1, has started 19 games this season and is averaging 5.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 18.2 minutes. Richardson is averaging 21.9 minutes.
Schaefer said he enjoys the versatility both players bring to the floor. He said Chapel is a better passes, which the Bulldogs try to exploit in high-low sets when she and Alwal are on the floor. Richardson’s shooting range allows her to stretch defenses more when she is on the floor.
But Schaefer also has said repeatedly that Richardson needs to cut down on her turnovers. Richardson has 18 turnovers in the past three games. Overall, she has 77, which is second on the team to freshman point guard Morgan William (95), who has the basketball in her hands a lot more.
In SEC games, Richardson has 48 turnovers, which also is second to William. In the past three games, Richardson has nine turnovers and one point.
“I think you have to keep doing things with repetition,” Schaefer said. “I think once you having to think about things, I think that is when you can really get into trouble. I think right now that is a little bit of her issue.”
Schaefer believes more repetitions will help Richardson to work through some of her issues. He has stressed Richardson’s importance all season because the Bulldogs run so many things off the player in the power forward position, or four. Schaefer hopes Richardson can break out of the recent stretch that has seen her score in double figures only once in the past six games. To do that, Schaefer hopes Richardson will adopt a version of the “no fear” mind-set” that is best exemplified by LaKaris Salter. The freshman forward played six minutes against South Carolina on Feb. 26 and had 14 points (on 4-of-5 shooting from the field) in a 69-50 loss.
Richardson has shown flashes of that, especially on drives to the basket. She had one against Ole Miss, but the basketball hit the back rim and came out. But Richardson also appeared to be hesitant on a possession against Ole Miss and failed to take an open perimeter shot. Schaefer said he wants Richardson to stay aggressive to keep defenses honest, whether as a shooter or as a passer to Alwal on the block.
“I think you go through what she has done in the past four or five ballgames and I think that piles up in your head,” Schaefer said. “It is my job to get that out of her head and to get her back playing well. I am the coach. I got to get her playing better.”
Richardson also has shown a willingness to crash the boards and mix it up with bigger players. Those are things Schaefer wants all of his players to do, particularly his four players. That’s why he hopes Richardson can have a return to form sooner rather than later.
“We have got to get her to stop turning the ball over,” Schaefer said. “That is her having a little more focus, a little more concentration in those areas when she has it in her hands and not allowing those things to happen.”
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 24 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 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
