Mississippi State Basketball: #21 Lady Bulldogs to host #4 South Carolina in first McCray-Penson vs Staley matchup

Mississippi State Basketball: #21 Lady Bulldogs face toughest conference test of the season as #4 South Carolina visits the Hump

It is gut-check time for the #21 Mississippi State Basketball Lady Bulldogs 8-4 (3-3). The Lady Bulldogs were embarrassed by Texas A&M the last time they took the floor ten days ago in a 61-49 defeat. The task at hand does not get any easier as the #4 Lady Gamecocks 12-1 (7-0) visit The Hump on January 28 at 6:00 p.m. CT on ESPN.

The Lady Gamecocks have long been a thorn in the side of Vic Shaefer while he was our coach. Coach McCray-Penson was on the staff then and enjoyed the spoils of those victories. She is now our head coach, and while this first season has not gone as anyone has planned, there is still time to turn the season around.

This will be the first matchup where Coach McCray-Penson will face her friend and former boss, Dawn Staley. South Carolina has been on a nine-game win streak since an early-season defeat to #2 North Carolina State. This will be the toughest matchup for the Lady Bulldogs so far this season.

On paper, the talent is there to compete with the Lady Gamecocks. The execution on both ends of the floor has frustrated the players, coaches, and fans. Mississippi State’s star players have not played up their potential, and when you leaders struggle and the role players struggle, the results are what we have so far in this young SEC season.

When the game tips off tomorrow, we will see if our Lady Bulldogs have used the ten days off to soul search and hopefully have found their footing. They definitely cannot score only three points in a quarter again and hope to upset South Carolina and give Coach McCray-Penson a win over Dawn Staley.

Scouting the Lady Gamecocks

South Carolina is a very balanced team, and they have four players average in double figures and one on the cusp. The key player is the woman in the middle, Aliyah Boston. Boston averages a double-double (14.9 pts, 11.3 rebs). She has also blocked 41 shots this year.

As dominant as Boston is, Zia Cooke is the leading scorer at 15.5 points a game, and she is a threat from three-point range, shooting 41%. Destanni Henderson (12.5 pts), Victaria Sexton (10.1 pts), Brea Beal (9 pts) are the other leading scorers.

South Carolina can also cause problems offensively for the Lady Bulldogs as outside of Boston, Victaria Sexton and Laeticia Amihere have combined for 41 blocks. Those three combined have 82 blocks compared to only 52 total for Mississippi State. Points in the paint for Mississippi State will be hard to come by in this game.

A Path to Victory for Mississippi State Basketball

Even with all of the struggles so far this season, this roster’s talent on their best night can play with anyone. To secure a victory, Mississippi State will need that kind of effort from everyone on the roster. The Lady Bulldogs have not executed well offensively and defensively, and that will need to change immediately if Mississippi State is to win this game.

Coach McCray-Penson will have to find a game plan to create high percentage shots. The Lady Gamecocks will come out looking to stifle Rickea and Jessika, so the rest of the team will need to execute almost flawlessly. Mississippi State needs to spread the floor and keep Boston out of the paint for Rickea to knife to the basket for layups or passes to open teammates.

Carter should be able to use her athleticism to keep moving and wear Boston down. If this was a time to channel her college head coach, The Legendary Pat Summit, this is the game to do so. I hope to see a much improved Lady Bulldog team than I saw ten days ago. Even if we lose the game, I want to see improvement.

Prediction

As I said earlier, Mississippi State has the talent on paper to compete with South Carolina, now that talent needs to perform and execute at a high level. As much as I would love to see an upset, I do not think Mississippi State will win this game.