STARKVILLE — Morgan William has her own gear for breakaway speed.
As a freshman in 2014, William burst onto the scene with 19- and 29-point efforts against Mercer and Arkansas State in the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The 5-foot-3 point guard showcased what Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer called a “tremendous wingspan and tremendous quickness” en route to earning a spot on the Southeastern Conference’s All-Freshman team.
Last season, though, a fracture in William’s right leg affected her quickness and made the crowd-pleasing fast-break dashes and the darting forays into the lane less frequent. Still, William improved her scoring by more than half a point to 9.7 points per game (10.9 in the SEC) and shot a team-best 84.4 percent from the free-throw line.
On Tuesday, the old William looked to be back in form, replete with a black sleeve on her surgically repaired right leg, on the Bulldogs’ first official day of practice for the 2016-17 season. William appeared to have that familiar get-up-and-go in her step as she pushed the pace in front of teammates Victoria Vivians and Ketara Chapel and Teaira McCowan and Breanna Richardson in a three-quarter court weave drill at Mize Pavilion.
Later in the practice, William drained five 3-pointers in a row from the top of the key during a break in the action.
“It was a long process being hurt and not being able to do anything,” William said. “The surgery (in the summer) was a month and a half recovery, and I had my ups and downs. I am better now. I am fast and I can jump a little better. It is exciting to be back.”
William’s injury forced her to miss key time with her teammates in the offseason. The silver lining for the Bulldogs was William’s injury gave sophomore point guard Jazzmun Holmes a chance to lead the team. Holmes had junior transfer Roshunda Johnson to lean on, but Schaefer has said he hopes to play Johnson as a two guard to capitalize on her scoring ability. As a result, the added time Holmes spent running the team in the summer figures to help MSU when it faces Purdue in its season opener at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, in the Maine Tipoff Tournament in Orono, Maine.
William said she watched Holmes practice with the team and she feels Holmes did everything she expected her to do. She is confident Holmes will be able to carry that effort through to the regular season.
“I practice with her every day, so I know what she can do,” William said. “She filled the role and she did her job. I think it gave her a lot more confidence. She was out there by herself without any subs. She was a little tired, but she got through it.”
William feels the same way about herself. She said she “is on her way back” to being able to do the things she did as a freshman. She admits she “gained some muscle and has some weight on me, too,” but that hasn’t changed her attacking mind-set.
“I want to be better than I was my freshman year,” William said.
William said she has worked on her shooting, ballhandling, and passing to elevate her game. She also said she has watched film in hopes of finding things she can improve on.
“It is just being in the gym with my teammates and working out every day doing something I haven’t been doing in the summer and getting reps in in the gym,” William said.
William’s field goal percentage declined from 35.4 percent as a freshman to 32.1 percent last season. But William remained steady with the basketball, handing out a team-best 176 assists and committing 100 turnovers. As a freshman she had 123 assists and 103 turnovers in 8.5 fewer minutes a game.
Tuesday’s practice was the first of 30 MSU is allowed in a 40-day span leading up to the first game of the season.
The Bulldogs went through a series of drills and had several scrimmage situations before ending the practice with focuses on offensive strategy and defense.
“The first day went great. It was so good to see our team out here and be with them on the court. I am eager to see what the season brings us,” Schaefer said. “This is a team that can really do some special things. You can get spoiled easily because of what we did the last two years, but you can’t forget what it took to get there, the hard work those teams put in. It’s sometimes our job as coaches to continue to remind them that you didn’t just show up one day and we got there. We got there because we paid the price. It’s time to pay the price.”
MSU will open the 2016-17 schedule at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, with a game against former MSU assistant coach Elena Lovato and Arkansas-Fort Smith at Humphrey Coliseum.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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