The Mississippi State women’s basketball team counts down the start of postseason play in select company.
Entering action Wednesday, No. 5 MSU is one of 16 Division I teams to have zero or one loss in conference play. MSU, which went 15-1 in winning the Southeastern Conference regular-season title, and Baylor, which went 18-0 en route to the Big 12 Conference regular-season championship, are the only two programs from Power 5 Conferences in that group.
Connecticut, which went 16-0 in the American Athletic Conference, is also included.
Like many of those teams, MSU cleaned up when its conference handed out its regular-season awards. Senior Teaira McCowan was named SEC Player of the Year and SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Graduate student Anriel Howard joined McCowan as a first-team All-SEC pick, while the SEC coaches named senior guard Jazzmun Holmes to the league’s All-Defensive team.
To cap the haul, MSU coach Vic Schaefer earned SEC Coach of the Year honors from The Associated Press. He shared that honor with Kentucky’s Matthew Mitchell in voting by the league’s coaches.
But conference awards and gaudy records aren’t going to earn you any victories in the postseason.
That’s why Schaefer and the Bulldogs enter the second season with a renewed focus after winning their second-straight SEC regular-season title. Top-seeded MSU (27-2) will begin that quest at 11 a.m. Friday (SEC Network) in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. MSU will take on the winner of the game between No. 8 seed Tennessee (18-11) and No. 9 seed LSU (16-12). That game will be at 11 a.m. Thursday (SEC Network).
MSU will look to become the fifth school to advance to the SEC tournament championship game four-straight years. South Carolina has defeated MSU in the last three SEC title games. South Carolina (2015-18), LSU (2005-08), Tennessee (1988-92), and Auburn (1987-90) are the other schools to accomplish the feat.
To realize that goal, Schaefer hopes MSU will learn from its 68-64 victory against South Carolina on Sunday in Columbia, South Carolina. Although MSU already had clinched the No. 1 seed earlier in the day thanks to Kentucky’s victory against Georgia, MSU made sure it didn’t have to share the regular-season crown by defeating South Carolina for the second time this season. The Bulldogs rallied from a 39-32 halftime deficit thanks to a 19-8 third quarter. Schaefer said the key to learning from the first half of that game is not to be satisfied and to go back to work with a focus to improve.
“I kind of felt like they were taking the fight to us (in the first half) and that we needed to take the fight to them,” Schaefer said when asked what he discussed with his players at halftime Sunday. “I felt like guard play was critical, and I felt like our guards were getting outplayed. I really challenged our guards and they responded.”
MSU will need Holmes, senior Jordan Danberry, sophomore Andra Espinoza-Hunter, and sophomore Bre’Amber Scott to play at a high level this weekend if it is going to claim its first SEC tournament championship. The key for all of the Bulldogs might be the amount of energy they bring to the court. Schaefer said he was most impressed with how his players responded in the third quarter against South Carolina. He said the Bulldogs had success early in the quarter, which gave the team energy. That shot of adrenaline translated to the defensive end and helped the Bulldogs build a double-digit lead before the Gamecocks rallied late to add drama to the outcome.
“We were guarding really well and they were having a hard time scoring, which is a good thing because they scored 39 points in the first half,” Schaefer said.
The victory capped a regular season which saw MSU finish first in nine of 21 statistical categories, including scoring (86.2 points per game), field goal percentage (48.8), rebounding margin (13.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3).
For perspective, MSU shot 51.6 percent from the field in non-conference and 46.5 percent in the SEC. It also had a rebounding margin of 17 prior to league play. That advantage slipped to 10.7 in the SEC.
Two areas which remained largely the same are offensive rebounds — the Bulldogs averaged 18 prior to league play and 17.7 in the SEC — and offensive rebound percentage — the Bulldogs were at 49 percent overall and 47.2 percent in league action.
Those statistics show the Bulldogs have been good in a number of key areas, but Schaefer still believes the 2018-19 team has room to grow.
“I still think there is a long way for this team to go,” Schaefer said. “I don’t know if we will get there, but I still feel like we have not touched the tip of the iceberg. We didn’t play that great on Sunday. Anriel was 5-for-18 from the field and we had way too many turnovers. We can play better, and we’ve got to play better because the gauntlet is coming.”
MSU survived the gauntlet of the regular season thanks in part to its ability to throw the first punch, or to regroup after it was hit in the mouth. Schaefer said he planned to show his players film from the start of the game against South Carolina to remind them MSU can’t afford to have another start like that if it wants to control its destiny and win the SEC tournament to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Three wins would enhance MSU’s chances of moving up to a No. 1 seed in the “Big Dance.”
“There was a lot of standing on offense, and we can be so much better offensively than what we showed,” Schaefer said. “We’ve got to get better, and there is a lot of room to grow there and a lot of it is energy and effort.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.