STARKVILLE — Jazzmun Holmes doesn’t remember much about her performance against Auburn.
It’s understandable for Holmes not to recall a lot of details from that game because she played only one minute and committed three turnovers.
When given a few seconds to think, Holmes remembers one of the turnovers came after she fell trying to negotiate the Tigers’ trap in the half-court set.
“It was a critical turnover,” Holmes said of the miscue.
Even though she is only 17 games into her Mississippi State career, Holmes understands how difficult it is for freshman point guards in the Southeastern Conference.
Holmes showed Sunday she is also is a quick learner.
Coming off her shortest outing of the season, Holmes had one of her strongest games, scoring eight points and handing out four assists without a turnover in No. 7 MSU’s 80-55 victory against Arkansas at Humphrey Coliseum.
Holmes will try to put back-to-back efforts together at 7 p.m. Thursday when MSU (16-1, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) takes on No. 24 Missouri (14-2, 1-2). The game will give the Bulldogs a chance to start 4-0 in SEC for the first time in program history.
“She played great today,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said of Holmes’ effort against Arkansas. “She has got to be in the top five, top 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio. That is what we’re looking for. She had three quick turnovers against Auburn but today does not turn it over. She plays 14 minutes and made some great decisions.”
Holmes is sixth in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.1. That figure puts her second in the SEC to Georgia’s Marjorie Butler (3.2).
Holmes, a 5-foot-8 standout from Harrison Central High School, also is 11th in the SEC in assists (3.3). She is averaging 2.5 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.
But those statistics pale in comparison to the value Schaefer places on taking care of the basketball, which is why Holmes has been so valuable. That’s why it was important for Holmes, who had zero assists and three turnovers against Florida and Auburn, to bounce back with a strong game against Arkansas.
Granted, Florida and Auburn are two of the SEC’s most prolific trapping teams, but Schaefer is confident Holmes is going to be fine.
“This is a hard league to grow up in, to throw to the wolves,” Schaefer said. “It is like any high school All-American that walks out and you go, ‘OK, by the way, you’re not going to rookie league, Class A, AA, or AAA, you’re going straight to the major leagues. You know as well as I do what that guy is going to do. If he is pitching, he is going to get rocked. If he is batting, he isn’t going to touch the ball.
“That is essentially what you’re asking a freshman to do when they come in and play in the SEC, and at point guard no less. It’s just a tremendous strain on that person.”
Schaefer said Holmes, the team’s only other active true point guard, has been getting a ton of minutes in practice because the Bulldogs are trying to limit sophomore point guard Morgan William, who is battling shin issues. William has been seen recently wearing a walking boot on her right leg.
Schaefer said Holmes’ court vision has helped her accumulate 56 assists and only 18 turnovers. She had eight assists in three-consecutive games against Grambling State, Mississippi Valley State, and Norfolk State. She also had seven assists against Louisiana Tech.
If I can get the rest of our kids to run, she is really good in the open floor,” Schaefer said. “I am really happy and pleased with her. We are going to need her to step in and play and be effective.”
Holmes said she has used the practice time to get more comfortable. She said Schaefer didn’t say anything to her about bouncing back from the game against Auburn, but she said assistant coach Dionnah Jackson, a former All-America guard at Oklahoma, encouraged her to play through her mistakes and to go 100 percent every time she makes a mistake.
That can be challenging for a first-year player, especially against an opponent that thrives on using its pressure on the ball to create turnovers for 40 minutes.
But Holmes looked more confident against Arkansas. She used a screen at the top of the key to rub her defender off and drain a 3-pointer. She also was 5 of 6 from the free-throw line for her second-highest scoring game of the season. She had 12 points against Samford in the season opener.
Holmes said life as a Division I point guard in the SEC is much harder than what she expected.
“It is much harder and you can’t take any days off,” Holmes said.
The added repetitions in practice have helped Holmes understand how to navigate screens on defense and how to get back on defense. She also said she is getting better at putting plays behind her. That can be tough with Schaefer’s voice in her head urging her to take care of the basketball, but she knows she will be able to work through it and to help the Bulldogs run the offense.
Holmes’ ability to forget her performance against Auburn set the stage for her to play a key role in helping MSU record 23 assists on 26 field goals against Arkansas. She hopes to develop the consistency MSU will need to see its history-making season continue.
“I thought I did pretty good (against Arkansas) and limited turnovers and played good defense,” Holmes said. “I was able to distribute the ball to my teammates and to have them make open jump shots.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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