STARKVILLE — There is no greater intangible than toughness.
Through all of its ups and downs and scoring droughts and youthful mistakes, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team has built an identity on tenacity, floor burns, and physical play. It hasn’t always been pretty, but coach Vic Schaefer’s squad has worked itself into the hearts of a record number of Bulldog fans and found a way to win basketball games on the biggest stages.
There was no greater example of all of those factors than Sunday in one of the best atmospheres in the history of basketball at the Hump.
Victoria Vivians had a game-high 24 points, Morgan William had 14 points, six rebounds, nine assists, and two steals, and Breanna Richardson had 12 points off the bench to help No. 5 seed MSU beat No. 4 seed Michigan State 74-72 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“Coach always says the same thing, ‘You always have to be ready whenever your name is called,’ ” Richardson said. “It is just a matter of always being ready, being ready on the bench, knowing what you have to do, what the game plan is, and being ready to make plays, just go out there and play.”
The victory helped MSU (28-7) set a single-season record for wins and secured a spot in the Sweet 16 of the Bridgeport Regional next weekend. MSU will play the winner of tonight’s game between three-time reigning national champion Connecticut and Duquesne at a time to be determined Saturday in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
The Bulldogs will make their second appearance in the Sweet 16 (2009-10).
Richardson best epitomized the toughness MSU needed on a day in which the fourth-largest crowd in the Hump watched it build a 51-38 lead with 5 minutes, 55 seconds left to play in the third quarter. The Spartans (25-9) answered with a 20-0 run that stretched into the fourth quarter that gave them a 60-53 lead.
MSU was 0-for-12 from the field with six turnovers in that stretch. Schaefer remarked after the game that several of his players had “glazed” looks on their faces, and that all he felt the team needed to do was to score to snap out of it.
Richardson played a big part in that revival, scoring eight points, while Vivians had seven in an exchange of big plays between the maroon-clad Bulldogs, who were wearing their road uniforms, and the white-clad Spartans, out of the Big Ten Conference. The contributions from the 6-foot-1 junior forward from Conyers, Georgia, were even more significant because she had one point in six minutes in a 60-50 victory against Chattanooga in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Richardson, who has had three double-figure scoring games since the start of Southeastern Conference play, said she didn’t put any more emphasis on preparing for Michigan State after being plagued by foul trouble against Chattanooga.
“I just knew I had a bad game on Friday,” Richardson said. “I just kind of knew I had to come out and play different because I didn’t play like I was supposed to at all. I knew I had to respond.”
Richardson bounced back with an extra helping of toughness in the paint and on the perimeter. She showed her ability to take the ball to the basket when she drove and slid to her left to avoid Akyah Taylor to convert a layup. The move fouled out Taylor, who tried to take the charge. Richardson missed the free throw, but a lane violation gave her another chance, which she gladly cashed in.
Richardson then added a layup off a turnover that gave MSU a 61-60 lead with 4:37 to play.
Things were only starting to get interesting.
Michigan State’s Tori Jankoska and Vivians added to the drama with a 3-point shooting exhibition. Jankoska banked in a trey from the right wing as the shot clocked expired to give the Spartans a 65-64 lead, but Vivians answered with a 3-pointer — her second in the final 5:51 — 12 seconds later to give the Bulldogs a 67-65 lead.
Turnovers and free throws followed on both sides that left the game tied at 69 with less than a minute to go. Surely the Bulldogs were going to try to find Vivians for another shot, or look to William to create something off penetration.
Instead, Richardson stood armed and ready to make a play on the right wing. It didn’t matter that she was wide open because she was going to shoot.
“There was no hesitation,” Richardson said. “We had been running the cutting game, and it was just basically the rotation. I was waiting for Morgan to throw it back. I was just ready. I was like, ‘Please throw it back, please throw it back.’ She finally did and I shot it. When I made it, I was like, ‘Woo.’ ”
Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant said her team didn’t make Vivians or Richardson earn those points. While she said the Spartans were well aware of Vivians’ propensity for hitting big shots, she said they weren’t expecting it from Richardson. She said Michigan State didn’t count on Richardson or junior forward Ketara Chapel (eight points, five rebounds) on making important contributions.
“Thirteen (Ketara Chapel) and 3 (Richardson) we were playing the same. We were giving them a cushion — driver, offensive rebounders, that is their gift to their team,” Merchant said. “We would rather them shoot it than Vivians shoot it and (William) off the bounce, so we kind of took our chances a little bit with Chapel and Richardson. They did a good job. They were 8-for-10 from the floor. We didn’t think they were good enough to do that when you look at their stats and how they play in their offense.
“The three she hit was really big. She doesn’t really even do that. That is what happens this time of year. Kids make plays, maybe even outside the realm of what they can even do. We had some crazy shots, too. Tori hit that crazy three, so it is just that time of year.”
Schaefer understands why opponents might have a hard time developing a scouting report on his team because he has been trying to get bigger performances from his forwards. Against Chattanooga, Chapel and Richardson struggled, so he went with LaKaris Salter, who delivered key contributions on both ends and had five points in eight minutes.
On Sunday, he said he almost moved to Richardson to the three and brought Chapel back in after Dominique Dillingham fouled out with 4:16 remaining. But he said you “have to go with your gut at certain times,” which is what he did when he left Nevitt in. That move made it possible for Richardson to be in position to make big plays down the stretch.
“I think we (she and Chapel) both played like we were supposed to,” Richardson said. “We knew we kind of didn’t have a good showing after the first game, so we knew we were going to come out and play well. We didn’t know how well we were going to play.
“It is kind of just like playing with a chip on your shoulder. It is just knowing you have to come out at all times and be ready.”
William said Richardson hits 3-pointers all of the time in practice, so she wasn’t surprised by the turn of events. In fact, she knew Richardson was “money.”
Schaefer has seen Richardson put the time in and work on her game. He said Richardson has been practicing her shooting with assistant coach Dionnah Jackson, so he believed she was going to be prepared if presented with an opportunity to make a game-winning play, even if it was a 3-pointer attempted by a player who entered the game with two on the season.
“She has had some struggles this year, but great players find a way out of that,” Schaefer said of Richardson. “We need Bre.
“Our fours answered the bell today. They went 8-for-10. Our fours have been struggling. Ketara was 3-for-3 and Bre goes 5-for-7. That is why we score 74 points. If we can get some production out of them, we’re going to have some offense. They really have been struggling. That kid was ready and prepared for that moment and she came through.
“I mentioned it (Saturday), sometimes we can let these little things become big issues that really aren’t that big. This is who Bre is. We just have to find a way to get it out of her, but she prepared for today. She was ready for the moment, but she was ready because of her preparation. She has been in there every day with Dionnah (Jackson) every day for a while now. This is what happens when you prepare for that moment.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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