STARKVILLE — The answers come easily for Teaira McCowan, Morgan William, and Victoria Vivians, even if their responses are different.
When each player was asked Friday what was the loudest they remember hearing it in Humphrey Coliseum, the players looked at each other for a moment before McCowan seized the opportunity.
“Probably the South Carolina game from this year,” McCowan said. “It was pretty loud in there. We couldn’t really hear Morgan calling the plays. She had to repeat it like six times.”
William agreed about the atmosphere for the program-record crowd of 10,794 for the game against South Carolina on Feb. 5, but she also mentioned MSU’s game against Michigan State in second round of the NCAA tournament in 2016.
As William continued her thought, Vivians, who was sitting to her left, said “Oooh” as if she was remembering the crowd of 7,094 that watched MSU earn a 74-72 win on March 20, 2016.
In the nearly two years since that victory, MSU has had 14 crowds larger than the one that prompted Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant to say the Hump is where a crowd of 7,000 “sounds like 70,000.”
No. 1 seed MSU (32-1) won’t pack quite that many in the Hump at 5 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2) when it plays host to No. 16 seed Nicholls (19-13) in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But the fact that MSU opens the annual event as the only host site to sell out the first and second rounds speaks to the program’s growth and how the players and coaches have worked to make attending a women’s basketball game in Starkville the “in thing” to do.
“I think it is the fact that it is Starkville, Mississippi,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “I think it is time that people recognize that women’s basketball is important here and our fans, our fan base, and our players deserve all of the credit. It really has transformed and changed, and I think it is great for the game.”
As of Friday morning, MSU was 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 had sold 9,700 tickets and counting. South Carolina was scheduled to play host to North Carolina A&T at 6:30 Friday night 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.
This year, the later start time would have given MSU a better opportunity to surpass the crowds of 5,572 and 6,035 from the NCAA first- and second-round games last season. The fact that MSU had sold all its tickets Monday night spoke to the following MSU has built in Schaefer’s six seasons as coach in Starkville.
Schaefer reiterated Friday that the Bulldogs’ aggressive style of play has helped the program connect with its fans. He said he doesn’t think MSU would have been able to build such a strong support system if it stood around in a 2-3 zone.
In his first few years in Starkville, Schaefer’s teams relied on defense. Senior Dominique Dillingham epitomized the Bulldogs’ style with her penchant for taking charges and getting on the floor to make hustle plays. This season, MSU has relied more on its offense, as seniors Roshunda Johnson, Blair Schaefer, Vivians, and William have flourished in a four-guard attack.
Charges are still part of MSU’s vocabulary, as evidenced by the 24 Schaefer has taken and the 16 William has taken. There’s no telling how many MSU will take Saturday. Don’t ask coach Schaefer to even think about how many MSU could take Monday because he isn’t looking past his team’s next game. Still, Schaefer couldn’t help but smile when he talked about two sellouts in Starkville, not Storrs, South Bend, or Columbia.
“When we were cutting our teeth and going 13-17 that first year, the people we did have coming to our game — and it wasn’t many — and I have said it before, I didn’t really want that many until we could change some things, but they came and appreciated how hard those kids played,” Schaefer said. “As we have grown, 22-14, 27-7, 28-8, 34-5, 32-1, it’s not what we do it, but it is how we do it. … I don’t think people just woke up one morning and said, ‘Hey, I am going to be a women’s basketball fan at Mississippi State.’ I don’t think that’s what happened. I think people fell in love with our kids. I think that’s what makes it so special and so unique here.
“I think it is Starkville, Mississippi, and that’s why it is so special here. I think it is what people have really come to love. It is the in thing to do. It is game day. Are we going to the game? What time is the game? Yes, we’re going to the game. It really has been a neat deal for all of us.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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