If you want to get fired up, just listen to DoBee Plaisance talk about defense.
“Defense takes a little talent and it is all about toughness and intangibles,” Plaisance said. “You play tough defense, you rebound the ball, and defense travels.”
Plaisance will look to defense to be a driving factor for the No. 16 seed Nicholls women’s basketball team at 5 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2) when it takes on No. 1 seed Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Humphrey Coliseum.
Nicholls (19-13) earned its first NCAA tournament berth Sunday when it defeated Stephen F. Austin 69-65 to win the Southland Conference tournament. Nicholls beat the No. 5, 1, and 2 seeds on three-consecutive days to win its first conference championship. The Colonels held the Ladyjacks to 39.7-percent shooting from the field to rally from a 12-point halftime deficit.
After the game, Plaisance praised her players for their “complete” buy-in to the team’s principles. She underscored the Colonels’ performance by calling her players “warriors.”
If Plaisance’s message sounds familiar, it should because MSU coach Vic Schaefer has a similar love for defense. In fact, Schaefer and Plaisance have used the same phrase — “defense travels” — for much of this season. Plaisance said earlier this week she has so much respect for Schaefer because she saw his passion for defense at Texas A&M and at MSU. Plaisance had a reason to be interested because her daughter, Theresa, was a center at LSU. Theresa is currently a member of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.
Nicholls is holding opponents to 63.8 points per game and 39.7-percent shooting from the field.
“If you’re a shooter, it might not be the right rim, the background might be different, but a court is a court. You can lace up your shoes and lock somebody down,” Plaisance said. “I tell my kids defense travels and faith travels. That is all we need. You just have to believe.”
Plaisance landed her first job as head coach at St. Martin Episcopal High School in Metairie, Louisiana. In seven of her eight years at St. Martin’s, Plaisance guided her squad to the state playoffs before capturing back-to-back state championships in 1993 and 1994. Her teams went 70-4 in that span, which included a 36-0 mark in 1993.
Plaisance spent 13 seasons at Loyola University New Orleans, where she built the women’s basketball team into a dominant NAIA program. She said she never believed she would take the job at Nicholls, but she reconsidered after feeling the energy and potential in the program. The team won two, four, and eight games in her first three seasons, but she led the Colonels to a 15-16 finish in 2011-12 and a 19-11 mark in 2012-13, which was the program’s first winning season. Two more winning seasons followed before back-to-back 10-win seasons the last two seasons.
Junior guard Cassidy Barrios said defense is a constant topic of conversation with Plaisance.
“That is all she talks about is defense,” Barrios said. “We really pide ourselves on that. If your defense is good, your offense is going to flow. We like to use our matchup zone to convert on other teams’ turnovers, which helps us get easy buckets.”
MSU has shot to break attendance mark
The announcement earlier this week that MSU has sold out tickets for the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament has put the school in position to set another record.
As of press time Friday, MSU is only school to sell out its first and second rounds. With a capacity of 10,500 for Humphrey Coliseum for the NCAA tournament, MSU has an opportunity to break the all-time attendance mark of 21,129 set by South Carolina on March 20 and 22, 2015, at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley tweeted Thursday night that South Carolina has gone from 6,000 tickets sold to 9,700 and counting. South Carolina will play host to North Carolina A&T at 6:30 tonight in the first round of the Albany Regional.
Last season, MSU’s second in a row to play host to the first and second rounds, the school ranked fourth of the 16 host sites with a total attendance of 11,607. MSU played Troy at 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 17, in the first round and DePaul at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 19, in the second round.
Thibault-DuDonis named to WBCA Top Thirty Under 30
MSU assistant coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis was named Thursday to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Top Thirty Under 30.
“I am really thankful and blessed to work for such a great boss in Coach (Vic) Schaefer,” Thibault-DuDonis said. “An opportunity like this doesn’t come along unless you work for great people and have a great team. I am thankful for all the opportunities I have had prior to coming to Mississippi State. They put me in the position to be here. It is not something I could have done alone.”
In her second season at MSU, Thibault-DuDonis has helped MSU’s guards develop into some of the most efficient shooters in the country. Under her guidance this season, Victoria Vivians is enjoying the best season of her career. She is averaging 19.6 points per game and is shooting career-best marks of 48.5 percent from the field, 39.5 percent from 3-point range, and 81.4 percent from the free-throw line. Thibault-DuDonis also has mentored seniors Blair Schaefer and Roshunda Johnson, who are two of the top 3-point shooters in the nation.
“We are so proud of Carly as she is very deserving of this award,” Vic Schaefer said. “Her work ethic, knowledge of the game and communication skills allow her to be an outstanding coach at such a young age. I am really blessed and fortunate to have the staff I have with Carly, Dionnah (Jackson-Durrett) and Johnnie (Harris).
“Carly has done a great job with our recruiting. She gets us organized and keeps us organized in addition to her knowledge of the game. She has done an incredible job with the development of our guards. She deserves a lot of credit there as well.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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