STARKVILLE — Only those who truly know Vic Schaefer best can determine how set he is in his defensive principles.
If the Mississippi State women’s basketball team isn’t playing player-to-player, it isn’t playing defense. Schaefer has preached to his players about getting up the line and into passing lanes and getting up close and personal with their opponent on every possession to make every trip an ordeal.
When you have had as much success as Schaefer has had using that style of defense at Arkansas, Texas A&M, and MSU, it’s easy to see why he is so steadfast in his desire to rely on it.
But Schaefer didn’t think twice Thursday when forced into a situation to make a change.
“In the fourth quarter, you saw us play 10 minutes of matchup (zone),” Schaefer said. “That is about as much as we have played all year long, but we had to stop all that dribble penetration. It was just killing us.”
Schaefer didn’t grimace when he made that comment. He couldn’t because he was tired of watching No. 19 Tennessee use dribble penetration to get to the rim or create open shots, so he knew MSU had a to go to a matchup zone in an effort to affect a change.
Schaefer’s decision proved to be a game-changer, as No. 13 MSU went to the defense in the fourth quarter trailing by 12 points. The switch limited Tennessee to 1-of-8 shooting in the fourth quarter and enabled No. 13 MSU to send the game to overtime. More timely defense in the extra session and clutch baskets by Victoria Vivians, Chinwe Okorie, and Morgan William propelled No. 13 MSU to a 65-63 victory against No. 19 Tennessee before a crowd of 5,710 at Humphrey Coliseum.
The win enabled MSU (18-4, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) to post its first victory in the 37-game history of its series against Tennessee (12-8, 3-4).
After the game, Schaefer said the Bulldogs’ matchup zone is so special that it has its own name.
“I refer to it as the Everett Kennard defense,” said Schaefer, referring to MSU’s former director of transportation who retired last year. “He gets that from last year when we were at Louisiana-Lafayette and we had played about the same amount of zone going into that game and we couldn’t guard their guards and we went to it that game and went from down 15 to up 15. After the game, Everett commended me on a great coaching decision. That night, we went to a 2-3 (zone) and I basically told them, ‘You stand here, you stand here, you stand here, you stand here, and you stand here.’
“We’ll give Everett credit. It hit me in my head the beginning of the fourth quarter, we can’t stop them, so we might as well try something else. Then you could probably say, ‘Well coach, you might ought to try to go to that a little earlier, and you would be right.’ ”
Schaefer said the Bulldogs contested all of the Lady Volunteers’ shots in the matchup zone. He said his primary concern going to the defense was rebounding, especially against an opponent that attacks the glass as aggressively as Tennessee does. But Tennessee’s ability to attack the rim from all five positions forced Schaefer’s hand.
Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said zones have bothered her team all season. She credited the Bulldogs for doing what they needed to do at the end.
“I thought we moved the ball, and, for the most part, I thought we got good looks,” Warlick said. “Mercedes (Russell) missed a shot around the basket and we missed some shots around the basket. They slowed us up a little bit. I thought we got that big lead in the third quarter because we were getting rebounds and we were running the basketball.
“I thought they made us take some tough shots (in the fourth quarter). When we saw zone, we just stood. We should be used to it because that is what we have been going against for most of the year.”
Tennessee shot 50 percent (7 of 14) in the first quarter, 54.5 percent (6 of 11) in the second, and 60 percent (9 of 15) in the third thanks to aggressive drives from every point on the floor. Unfortunately, Te’a Cooper’s strong drive on the left wing in the final seconds of overtime went hard off the backboard and deflected into the lane, where a scrum ensued until the final horn.
“She had a wide-open look,” Tennessee junior guard Jordan Reynolds said of Cooper. “We have confidence in her driving ability. … It was better than taking a contested jumper any day, so I applaud her for that. We just have to finish layups.”
Reynolds paced Tennessee with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Andraya Carter and Cooper had 11 points, while Russell had eight points and 10 rebounds. Bashaara Graves added nine points and five rebounds.
Redshirt sophomore Diamond DeShields, who entered the game as the Lady Volunteers’ leading scorer (15 points per game) didn’t start and scored four points in 30 minutes. Warlick said DeShields didn’t practice Wednesday due to a sprained ankle, so she opted not to start her.
The defensive switch helped MSU end a two-game losing streak and a run of three losses in its last four games. MSU will go on the road this weekend to play at 2 p.m. Sunday at Arkansas, which lost in overtime to Florida on Thursday. Arkansas beat Tennessee 64-59 on Jan. 14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. MSU defeated Arkansas 80-55 on Jan. 10 in Starkville.
The Bulldogs will enter the rematch with the Razorbacks ready to start another streak content with a feeling of accomplishment they no longer are the only SEC team that hasn’t beaten the Lady Volunteers.
“We didn’t talk about it,” Schaefer said of the losing streak to Tennessee. “The kids don’t know anything about it. I wasn’t here. I have lost to them three times in the first three years, but tonight (our kids) showed tremendous toughness to stray after it and to compete. They had great competitive spirit and found a way to win.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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