Ready for what’s next
Mississippi State players Dominique Dillingham (00), Victoria Vivians (35) and Blair Schaefer (1) greet each other at court side during Friday’s game against Washington. The Bulldogs now play the Baylor Bears today for a chance to advance to the NCAA Fina
There aren’t many teams in the country that boast a 6-5 and 6-7 player like Mississippi State has grown accustomed to having every basketball game.
Chinwe Okorie and Teaira McCowan have been a mismatch against most teams this season and it played out against Washington in the Sweet 16 when McCowan had 20 points and seven rebounds in the fourth quarter.
Today will be challenging for the two players as Baylor is one of the few teams that can produce as much size if not more across the board.
Mississippi State head coach Vic Schaefer watched court side as the Lady Bears trotted out three players over 6-2 in their starting lineup including 6-7 center Kalani Brown, who averages 15.1 points and 8.1 rebounds with 1.9 blocks per game. It was much different watching on the court than it has been for Schaefer watching the tape.
“When you scout in person, the thing that the film doesn’t show is quickness, speed and how truly big someone is,” Schaefer said. “(Friday) I got that up close and in person. I think our league, hopefully, prepares us for this moment.”
While there certainly aren’t many teams around the country that boast the size that Baylor and MSU have, the Bulldogs have seen the length and the physicality comes with every game in the league.
For Dominique Dillingham, who has seen just about any matchup imaginable in four years, South Carolina is the closest comparison. The Gamecocks put A’Ja Wilson and Alaina Coates up against MSU’s front court and the Bulldogs held their own in two losses.
“You prepare for this all year,” Dillingham said. “We’ve played South Carolina twice already and I feel like they’re very similar. I feel like we’re prepared and we’ll have a good game plan.”
The Lady Bears have been led by Brown in the post but have a Big 12 Player of the Year in forward Nina Davis. Davis averages 12.6 points and 5.7 rebounds for a group that sends every player to the rim to pull down 52 boards per game.
For Schaefer, he’s not preaching to his team about the size issues as much as what Baylor does well all over the court.
“In film (Saturday), it wasn’t about the size, it was about everything,” Schaefer said. “There’s probably not enough time in the day to deal with all that.”
Different faces continue to shine for Bulldogs
In each of MSU’s three NCAA Tournament wins this season, a different player has risen to the challenge to help the Bulldogs to victory.
Blair Schaefer started the tourney with 21 points against Troy, Jazzmun Holmes produced a career day with 13 points, eight assists and one turnover against DePaul and McCowan carried the team to victory over Washington with a double-double scoring 26 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.
Those players have been coming off the bench for most of the season and Blair Schaefer and McCowan have been starters throughout the tournament. Despite
that, their head coach just believes his team is that talented.
“The media is caught up in who’s out there when we’re jumping center,” coach Schaefer said. “I’m caught up in who is out there during the course of the ball game and who’s on the floor when it’s really important. Figure out that this time of year it’s about getting hot. I’ve got 13 really good players and some of them are hot right now. It’s my job to play those that are hot.”
Coach Schaefer hasn’t, and won’t, announce a starting five for today, but he will likely continue with the same rotation that has got him to this point.
“Who is to say that is going to be what we’ll be (today),” Schaefer said. “The unknown has kind of worked for us the last couple of weeks. I’m not going to change the unknown right now.”
William ties all-time MSU assists mark
After a six-assist night against Washington on Friday, junior point guard Morgan William has already tied the school record for assists in a career with 463.
Last season, William finished second in school history with assists in a single season with 176. Her 164 assists this season have her 12 away from that mark and she’s 15 assists away from matching Angela Harris’ school record for a single season.
William went over 1,000 points in her career in the SEC Tournament and is currently the only player in school history to make over 80 percent of her free throws. She sits at 84 percent in her career.