STARKVILLE — Judging from the smile that lights up Jessika Carter’s face, it’s hard to imagine her when she is mad.
The same can be said for freshman guard Xaria Wiggins, Carter’s classmate on the 2018-19 Mississippi State women’s basketball team. Both players have great personalities and wonderful smiles that draw you in and make you want to learn more about them.
The same could be said of former MSU standouts like Ketara Chapel and Breanna Richardson. When those two players started their careers in Starkville, MSU coach Vic Schaefer sometimes said they were too nice and that they needed to get mean.
This season, Schaefer hopes to see Wiggins and Carter transform themselves into impactful personalities players on the court.
“Those two kids probably have the biggest chance to impact our team this year if we can get them ready and they can get acclimated,” Schaefer said last month at SEC Media Day. “They are talented kids and great kids who work hard every day. They are always smiling. I think they are great kids. I think that is the challenge for freshmen a lot of times. You have to teach them for two hours a day I need you to be a monster.”
MSU won’t need Wiggins and Carter to make that change Thursday for the team’s annual on-campus media day, but Schaefer would like to see signs both players are getting there by 6 p.m. Friday when MSU plays host to Central Missouri in an exhibition game at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Bulldogs could need Wiggins and Carter to play an even bigger role following the graduation of four starters from a program-best 37-win team. MSU is still waiting on a ruling by the NCAA about the eligibility of transfers Andra Espinoza-Hunter (Connecticut) and Promise Taylor (Ole Miss) for this season. With them, the Bulldogs would have an active roster of 13 players. Without them, Schaefer would be left with 11 available players, including only two true centers (Teaira McCowan and Zion Campbell).
The versatility of Wiggins and Carter could make it easier for MSU to get by if Espinoza-Hunter and Taylor aren’t able to play. Wiggins said she has been working at the two (shooting guard) and the three (small forward), while Carter said she is seeing time at the four (power forward) and the five (center). Both players said it has been tough learning multiple positions and adjusting to playing the style of defense Schaefer wants. Still, they have shown they are ready to accept the challenge of being immediate contributors.
“I think I make (learning how to play two positions) harder than it needs to be,” Carter said after wrestling to find an answer for several seconds.
In MSU’s three-game tour of Italy in August, Carter was third on the team in scoring at nine points a game. She also averaged 7.7 rebounds in 19 minutes per game. Wiggins averaged five points a game and shot 26.3 percent from the field. She also had a team-high 10 turnovers in 15.3 minutes per game.
Last week in MSU’s Maroon-White scrimmage, Wiggins had 17 points and was 7-for-11 from the field. She had four turnovers. Carter had 10 points and four rebounds and was 4-for-6 from the field.
“At first, I was kind of slow coming into it,” Wiggins said. “The games we played in Italy and the scrimmage definitely helped me. I feel like I am up to speed with them.”
Wiggins said her confidence has “went way up.” She said she wasn’t sure where Schaefer was going to put her, but she said he has shown he has faith in her to be “a scorer.” Most of that playing time has come at the two and three, with a little bit at the four. She said it hasn’t fazed her that Schaefer has encouraged her to be a “scorer” this early in her career because she has played that role on other teams.
Carter said she is leaning on former MSU standout Ketara Chapel, who has joined the coaching staff as a student assistant, for help in learning how to play two positions and how to play with the energy and effort Schaefer expects.
“Every day I am getting better and better because I am going out there and asking questions and getting my reps in,” Carter said. “(Ketara) makes sure I know what I am doing.”
Carter said she played center in high school and in travel ball. Now, though, she has to adjust and know when to get out of the way when players drive. If she plays the four, Carter will be counted on to pass. She feels she is comfortable working in a high-low set because she knows where taller players — Carter is 6-foot-5 — like to receive the basketball.
Carter said hearing Schaefer believes she can make an immediate impact gives her confidence.
“He says I have it in me,” Carter said. “He says I have to stop being so nice, and he said I need to be tougher, so that is what I am working on. He said if I get tougher that is going to change my whole game.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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