STARKVILLE — There’s always work to be done when you’re the hunted.
An hour before the Mississippi State women’s basketball team’s game against Auburn on Monday night, associate head coach Johnnie Harris was sitting in the retractable bleachers at Auburn Arena with her feet propped up. The pose allowed Harris to use her legs as a table for her laptop, which was queued up to clips of South Carolina. In front of Harris, the Bulldogs went through the warmup paces with strength and conditioning coach Marci Hoppa to get them ready to take on the Tigers. Meanwhile, Harris pored over the video in hopes of finding ways to slow down the Gamecocks. Harris’ study gave her an idea she said she was going to suggest to head coach Vic Schaefer.
For those who know Schaefer, the notion might have sounded outlandish.
But Harris’ suggestion to have the Bulldogs play some zone as a changeup to its full-court pressure and its player-to-player defense proved to be a valuable weapon Thursday in No. 7 MSU’s 89-74 victory against No. 15 South Carolina in a Southeastern Conference game before a crowd of 10,006 at Humphrey Coliseum.
“We talked after watching film and I told him my biggest concern with them was stopping their transition,” Harris said. “They get out and run on makes and misses, so I think once he was able to watch some film he saw it. I don’t know if I planted the seed, but he saw it and he made the call.”
Harris said Schaefer watched the same clips of South Carolina’s games to get a sense of what might work defensively for MSU. For much of the evening, the Gamecocks (12-5, 4-1 SEC) pushed tempo and attacked the basket. Coupled with a 10-for-15 effort from 3-point range through three quarters, South Carolina trailed 65-64 with 10 minutes to play. But the Bulldogs went to the zone more in the fourth quarter in an effort to throw the Gamecocks off. Much like the decision to take the full-court pressure off against Georgia, the move helped MSU gain control, as South Carolina missed its final 10 3-pointers and shot 4-for-20 in the final 10 minutes.
“We don’t work too much on zone,” Schaefer said. “I thought, as the game went on, we got more comfortable with it and became aware of what they were trying to do to us. It’s funny, we did work on it more going into this game than I have all year long. As it turned out, we sure needed it.”
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said a lot of the game featured “back-and-forth” parries to the basket with a lot of success on both ends. She felt the Gamecocks’ success with Te’a Cooper (game-high 27 points), Tyasha Harris (17 points), and others attacking the basket forced the Bulldogs to take a different approach.
“I don’t think they could stop us. I don’t think we could stop them,” Staley said. “I think it’s pretty evident the type of adjustments he had to make in this game. I have never seen him play as much zone as he played. You have to give it up to our players for making him make that adjustment. Obviously we will regroup to come up with a different game plan (for the rematch on March 3) just in case they play a little bit more zone than anticipated.”
Harris said Schaefer watched the film Tuesday and the Bulldogs worked on zone defense for the next two days. She said MSU worked on its zone defense prior to its game against Auburn. The Bulldogs also played zone for a couple of possessions against the Tigers. Harris said the Bulldogs’ ability to stop the Tigers’ penetration in their 85-59 victory might have played a role in Schaefer’s decision to play more zone than he typically likes to against South Carolina.
For a team that usually relies on player-to-player defense as well as full-court pressure, Harris was pleased to see the Bulldogs respond in extended minutes playing zone.
“I thought it was good,” Harris said. “I thought we were talking. I thought we were communicating. I thought we tried to get everything covered. I think most of the 3-pointers they hit were in transition or against man, so I thought we did a good job in the matchup (zone).”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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