WOMEN
From page 7 ers might suggest she plays with an edge.
Schaefer just thinks she gets the job done.
“She's a tough, hardnosed, physical basketball player," Schaefer said. "She's highly-skilled and she's obviously someone over the years we've come to play close attention to and it won't be any different on Thursday. That's a kid that plays extremely hard and is highly intelligent.”
“Great players figure out how to get it done and she's done that her entire career. We've got to figure out how to handle them as a unit as well as some individual players.”
Defense will be of the utmost importance for MSU in this game and especially 3-point defense as Missouri is hitting at a 35 percent clip with over 60 more made threes than the Bulldogs all season. MSU'S defense is currently allowing a similar percentage from deep as teams make 36 percent of its shots from downtown, but the unit as a whole has gotten significantly more improved as the year has rolled on.
The full court press that Schaefer has relentlessly run this year has been a factor. The Bulldogs had to come out of it three times in a row against Georgia, Auburn and South Carolina as the three teams averaged nearly 70 points in those games against MSU. State has since buckled down and surrendered just 48 points per game in the last five contests and the press has been stifling.
“I think we've gotten better since then," State senior guard Jordan Danberry said. "We know that coach didn't like us coming out of the press during the South Carolina game so we focused on that a lot more in practices. It's always our focus every game to get in the press and wear them down.”
A couple of lackluster offensive scoring performances seem to be in the backburner as well as the Bulldogs put up 91 points last Sunday on Tennessee and are second nationally with 88 points per contest. They're doing it with help from all over as three of the five starters are in double figures led by Teaira Mccowan and Anriel Howard averaging 17.2 and 15.5 points respectively with a combined average of 22 rebounds a game.
Danberry has been one of the most improved players in the conference having gone from two points a game as a junior to averaging 13.3 this year. She had three games of double digit points last season but has put together four games of 20 or more points alone this year.
Jazzmun Holmes isn't to be forgotten either as she fills up the stat sheet with 7.8 points, and 5.2 assists a game. Schaefer calls her the best point guard in the country as she leads the nation in assist/turnover ratio with 119 dishes to just 26 turnovers for the year.
The Bulldogs come into tonight's 8 p.m. tip looking to continue that SEC winning streak and get close to their goals of winning championships. The game can be seen on SEC Network.