STARKVILLE — Victoria Vivians looked surprised.
The Mississippi State junior guard was just about to complete her pre-game ritual and shoot a 3-pointer from the top of the key when the lights were lowered in Humphrey Coliseum.
Rather than wait for Bully, MSU’s mascot, to come out to center court and work with the band and the cheerleaders to pump up the fans, Vivians raised up and drained a trey and raced back to the locker room to get ready for pre-game introductions.
The shot turned out to be the beginning of a very good day, as Vivians poured in a game-high 24 points and matched a career-high with 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the season to lead No. 5 MSU to a 74-48 victory against LSU in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams before a crowd of 5,849.
“This is back to back for Torri where she has really been dialed in on both ends.” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “She goes and plays like an All-American today. That is how an All-American is supposed to play.”
Vivians was 8 of 14 from the field — a season-best 57.1 percent — and had three steals in 35 minutes, her second most of the season. The 6-foot-1 native of Carthage also was active on defense in one of the best all-around efforts of her career. The performance came on the heels of a 22-point showing against Northwestern State on Wednesday and a season-high 28-point night against Alabama State on Dec. 20.
Vivians, who had four double-doubles as a freshman and two as a sophomore, felt she was going to make the 3-pointer even after the lights were dimmed. She said the ritualistic nature of her final 3-pointer after shootaround is designed to help her dial in on the rim, which she showed she is capable of doing even with minimal light.
“You have got to know where the goal is,” Vivians said. “It is consistency. If you know where the basket is, you will make it.”
Vivians said she didn’t know before the game she was going to have such a strong shooting game. She admitted, though, she had been in the gym all week working on her shooting, so it shouldn’t have been surprising that she had her best shooting effort of the season.
“If it wasn’t there, I didn’t know what was wrong,” Vivians said.
The victory helped MSU (15-0) remain the only undefeated team in the SEC, and one of only three unbeatens — No. 1 Connecticut and No. 19 Virginia Tech are the others — in the nation.
The 26-point margin of victory is the largest for MSU against LSU in the 55-game series, which dates back to the 1976-77 season. It is the second time the Bulldogs have won back-to-back games in the series. The last time was the 2008-09 season, when MSU, which trails in the series 47-8, won in Starkville and at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, before losing to LSU in the SEC tournament in North Little Rock Arkansas.
Schaefer was pleased with Vivians’ energy on defense. It was needed against a guard-heavy LSU team that looked to Chloe Jackson (14 points) and Raigyne Moncrief (12) to lead the way. Vivians did her best to counter all of the Tigers’ backcourt players with an aggressive and versatile performance.
“Vivians was and is one of the best players in the country, and (it is) because of her ability to set the tone for her team,” LSU coach Nikki Fargas said. “I thought her leadership along with their guard play really did a nice job of disrupting our guard play, and we typically go as our guards go. Defensively, we were out of sync and they took advantage and picked us apart. That is a true testimony to a well-coached team and a disciplined team.”
Fargas felt the Tigers lost Vivians too much on defense and didn’t do a good enough job denying her the basketball. She said there wasn’t enough “buy-in” from her players to prevent Vivians from taking control, which she did in the first quarter when she scored 10 points.
Vivians missed her first shot — a 3-pointer from the right wing — but she regrouped to drain a trey, to score on a layup, to nail another jump shot, and to connect on another 3-pointer to get into an unmistakable rhythm. Two of the baskets came off inbounds passes.
Chinwe Okorie added 17 points and had six rebounds and was the only other MSU player in double figures.
The efforts of Vivians and Okorie helped MSU shoot 28 of 49 (57.1 percent) from the field, which is the program’s highest percentage in a SEC game since it shot 59.3 percent in a 96-46 victory against Kentucky on Feb. 16, 2003.
Vivians complemented her hot shooting with an energetic rebounding effort. She said Schaefer has been on her all season about rebounding. She entered the game averaging 3.6 per game, which was down from 5.8 last season. Vivians answered the call by grabbing 10 of her rebounds on the defensive end to help MSU own a 36-28 edge in that category.
“I did pretty well, but I haven’t been doing it as well as I should, so I was just focusing on rebounding,” Vivians said. “Last year, I had nine against them, so I figured I could get nine against them again, and I got more.”
Vivians also generated a little more offense — she came in averaging 16.2 points per game — by playing under control and within the offense. She dribbled into space to create an opening for a jump shot in the second quarter. She followed that with a driving basket and an offensive rebound putback to cap her first-half scoring.
In the second half, Vivians tacked on another 3-pointer off an inbounds pass and five free throws as the Bulldogs never were challenged.
Schaefer said Vivians’ success, like that of many shooters, is based on footwork. He said she stays on all of the shooters to get their feet right and to be balanced so they can be even more effective.
“Torri didn’t take a bad shot today,” Schaefer said. “She was on balance, so if you get her, Ro(shunda Johnson), and Blair (Schaefer) where their feet are under them and they are on balance, I am going to win a lot of HORSE games with those three.”
Vivians agreed footwork and balance were keys to her afternoon. She said last season she took a lot of off-balanced shots that didn’t go in, so she said she has tried to keep a solid base so she can be more accurate. Her showing Sunday lifted her field goal shooting percentage to a career-best 43.3 percent. Last season, Vivians shot 38.2 percent.
Schaefer welcomes higher shooting percentages. He praised the performance of Okorie, whose 8-of-10 shooting day helped her get closer to the coveted 60-percent mark he desires from post players. Schaefer said he would like to see Vivians get to 45 percent, which looks doable if the Bulldogs continue to be patient and if Vivians keeps her feet under her and remains balanced.
If Vivians does those two things, it won’t matter if the lights are on or off.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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