STARKVILLE — It’s all in the mind-set for the Mississippi State women’s basketball team.
When you get to the third week of March, all of the teams left standing are good. MSU’s 11 regular-season victories in the Southeastern Conference, its appearance in the SEC tournament title game, and its program-record 28 victories prove it belongs as one of 16 teams still alive in the 2015-16 season.
At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, MSU will get a chance to see if it can take the next step from good to great. That’s when No. 5 seed MSU (28-7) will face No. 1 seed and three-time reigning national champion Connecticut (34-0) in the Sweet 16 at the Bridgeport Regional at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
The winner of that game will play the winner of the game between UCLA and Texas at a time to be determined Monday for a right to go to the Final Four in Indianapolis.
Final Fours have become a rite of passage for Geno Auriemma’s Huskies. UConn enters the matchup riding a 71-game winning streak. It owns a record 10 national championships and is the only team in the nation shooting above 50 percent (52.5 percent) from the field.
If you needed any other indication of UConn’s dominance, it leads the nation in six other statistical categories — scoring (88.2 points per game), scoring margin (40.2 ppg.), free-throw percentage (80), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.82), assists per game (21.5), and scoring defense (48 ppg.) — taken from a group of 22 of the most popular groups. It is ranked in the top 10 of 16 of those categories.
For comparison, MSU isn’t ranked first in any of them. It is ranked in the top 10 of three: offensive rebounds per game (17), turnover margin (6.31), and free throws made (503).
MSU coach Vic Schaefer probably can find more statistics about UConn that will boggle your mind, but he is more concerned with making sure his players are focused on more important things.
“You have to go in with the mind-set of it’s a basketball game,” Schaefer said. “We’ve played in 35 games already, and we play in a really good league against some really good teams. That prepares you for this game. (UConn) has separated itself from everyone else in the country in terms of their win streak and what they have accomplished. For us, we are going against a really good basketball team, and we have played some really good teams.”
Schaefer said the Bulldogs will talk about many of the same things — limiting turnovers, not having turnovers in the wrong spot on the floor, and playing good transition defense — that they discuss when they play other teams. He said the importance of executing everything at a high level intensifies against UConn because it does everything a little better than nearly everyone in the nation.
That being said, Schaefer like the road his team has traveled to get to this point. He feels playing against Sweet 16 participants South Carolina (twice), Kentucky, and Tennessee (twice) and the rest of the SEC has made MSU tougher. A prime example of that came in the SEC tournament, when the Bulldogs defeated the Lady Volunteers 58-48 to advance to face the Gamecocks in the SEC tournament title game.
MSU also showed that toughness Sunday after it squandered a 13-point third-quarter lead to Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Spartans used a 20-0 run to turn the tide of the game, and twice held a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs fought back to earn the program’s second trip to the Sweet 16.
Junior Dominique Dillingham said the Bulldogs have to treat the game against the Huskies as “just another basketball game.” She and sophomore point guard Morgan William agreed when they said MSU can’t get fixated or intimidated by the UCONN on the front of the opponents’ uniforms.
“For some people, it’s harder than others, but for me, my mentality, it’s just another game,” Dillingham said.
Said William, “We have to play smart and remember that each position matters. We can’t go in a drought against UConn because we wont be able to win if we do.
“I’m excited. I like the bright lights. I like going out there and playing against the best. I feel like if I go out there and play the best that I can, my teammates will follow behind me.”
As good as UConn is offensively (it is ranked No. 1 in six offensive categories), Schaefer feels the Huskies might be even better on defense. That’s a big statement coming from a man whose nickname is “Secretary of Defense.” UConn is fifth in field goal percentage defense (33 percent), 10th in turnovers forced (21.24 per game), and third for fewest fouls (378). For comparison, MSU is 64th in field goal percentage defense (37.2), 15th in turnovers forced (20.91), and 339th in fewest fouls (694).
“They have really good helpline defense and their rotation is really good,” Schaefer said. “They have a player (reigning National Player of the Year Breanna Stewart) that has blocked 404 shots. When you have a rim protector like that, it’s important. She impacts the game. She has blocked 404 shots, but she probably has altered 404 more shots if not more. All their guards are big guards. I think they all impact the game defensively. They probably don’t get as much credit as they do offensively, but they are really good defensively.”
“We are playing against a great team that lives off of great runs. The test is to try to eliminate certain things (UConn) wants to try to do. We need to realize we aren’t going to eliminate all of their runs and we have to make runs. When you are playing UConn, you have to realize there is a reason why they have won as many games as they have in a row. At the same time, we have to realize we are here for a reason and we are pretty good, too, so we have to go in and be who we are, execute, and put ourselves in a position to be successful while also keeping ourselves out of situations that can hinder us from being successful. That is as important as anything.”
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 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.