Texas hosts Miss. State Bulldogs Wed. nite

This will be the second top ten matchup that Texas will play in the last four days. Texas has moved up to # 6 in the AP poll while Miss. State is ranked # 9. This will be Miss. State’s first road game of the season. Texas and Miss. State will bring matching 5-0 records into Wednesday’s game. The series, which began on 03/29/09 and ended on 11/26/09, is tied 1-1. Miss. State dropped Texas 71-63 in the 2009 NCAA first round game at Columbus, Ohio. Texas won the second game, played in the Paradise Jam Tournament at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 73-55. This will be the first game played on one of the teams’ home court.

The MSU Bulldogs are led in scoring by Victoria Vivians (#35, 6-1 Soph. F) at 18.2 ppg. Vivians was an Honorable Mention AP All American and a Full Court Press Freshman 2nd team All American last season. This season, she is a First Team Preseason All-SEC selection. The other player with a double digit scoring average is Teaira McCowan (#15, 6-7 Fr. C) at 13.6 ppg while coming off the bench the last four games. Kayla Nevitt (#23, 5-10 Soph. G) and Dominique Dillingham (#00, 5-9 Jr. G) contribute 9.8 and 9.2 ppg, respectively. Five players are hitting at least 50% from the field. Vivians (35-70; 50.0%) and McCowan (27-51; 52.9%) are the leading shooters for the Bulldogs. Chinwe Okorie (#45, 6-5 Jr. C) has the highest FG% at 59.4% (19-32). Sherise Williams (#5, 6-1 Sr. F) hits at a 58.8% clip (10-17) while Ketara Chapel (#13, 6-1 Jr. F) drops shots in at a rate of 58.3% (7-12). Vivians and Dillingham are both hitting 42.9% from BTA. Vivians has made 15-35 while Dillingham has connected on 6-14. LaKaris Salter (#44, 6-1 Soph. F) is at 40.0% from BTA (4-10). Nevitt (38.5%; 5-13) is the other main 3pt threat. Blair Schaefer (#1, 5-7 Soph. G) has the second most 3pt attempts with 25 but has only made 7 (28.0%). McCowan (14-20; 70.0%) has the most FTs made and attempted. Morgan William (#2, 5-5 Soph. G) is one of the most accurate from the FT line at 92.9% (13-14). Vivians is having trouble at 54.5% (6-11). MSU is outscoring their opponents 93.2 – 37.2.

McCowan just misses averaging a double double with a rpg of 9.4. Okorie adds 6.0 rpg. Jazzmun Holmes (#10, 5-8 Fr. G) leads with 31 assists while coming off the bench. William is second with 29 assists. They don’t turn the ball over much, with Breanna Richardson (#3, 6-1 Jr. F; 10 TOs) and McCowan (9 TOs) having 19 of the team’s 49 TOs. McCowan is far and away the leading shotblocker with 12. Okorie is second with five blocks. Dillingham (12) and Holmes (11) are the top two ball thieves for the Bulldogs. Three others have at least 8 steals each.

William, Dillingham and Vivians have started all five games for MSU. Chapel and Okorie have four starts in five games. That lineup has started the last four games. Richardson and McCowan have one start each. Eleven players have played in all five games while two others have only played in the last four games. Zion Campbell (#6-3 Fr. C) has yet to play for the Bulldogs while Ok. State transfer Roshunda Johnson (#11, 5-7 Jr. G) will sit out this season. Eleven of the 13 active players averaging double digit mpg with none more than 23 or less than 14.

Texas has four players averaging double digits: Imani (12.8 ppg), Brooke (12.4 ppg), LaShann (11.0 ppg) and Brianna (10.4 ppg). Imani leads in FG% at 65.0% (26-40) while Sara also is hitting over 60% at 61.5% (8-13). Three others are hitting over 50% from the field: Brianna (22-39, 56.4%), Celina (13-24, 54.2%) and Kelsey (15-29, .51.7%). Brooke has taken a third of the 3pters that Texas has launched. She is 10-25 for 40.0% from BTA. Celina is second in 3pt accuracy at 50.0% on 7-14 shooting. Brianna is first at 66.7% on 2-3 treys. LaShann has the most FTs made and attempted with 16 of 27 FTs (59.3%). Empress and Imani are second in FTs attempted with 15 each. Imani has connected on 11 for 73.3% while Empress has drained 10 (66.7%). Brady (6-6, 100%) and Brooke (10-12, 83.3%) top the team in FT shooting.

Imani (9.0 rpg) and LaShann (5.8 rpg) are the leading rebounders. Three others average over 4 rpg. The Horns have three players averaging at least 3 assists a game: Celina (4.0 apg), Empress (3.4 apg) and Brooke (3.0 apg). Imani (10), Kelsey (5) and Sara (2) are the only Horns that have more than one block. Six others have one block each. LaShann (11) and Imani (10) are the top ball hawks for Texas. Brooke (8) and Celina (6) also show a propensity for swiping the ball.

Six players have started at least three games. Imani, Brooke and Celina have started all five games. Ten of 12 players are averaging in double digit minutes with Brooke (29.8) and Celina (26.6) averaging the most minutes. Still to see action this season are Ariel and Diani. The Horns have gone with a big starting lineup with both Imani and Kelsey starting together and with a small lineup with Brianna replacing Kelsey in the starting lineup. The lineups during a game constantly change as well. Still waiting to see a very small lineup featuring Jordan and four guards.

Projected starting lineups—based on the last game played:

Texas............Miss. State
Imani..............Okorie
Brianna...........Vivians
Empress..........Chapel
Celina.............Dillingham
Brooke...........William

Vivians will be the main focus of the Texas defense. At 6-1, she will present problems for our guards. Still, after guarding Diamond DeShields, they are unlikely to have doubts about this assignment. If she plays inside, our posts will cause her problems. McCowan has been a force on both ends for the Bulldogs off the bench. This game will be the first for both where each has a 6-7 and a 6-5 post player. It remains to be seen if MSU will use 6-3 Fr. Campbell who is the third tallest player on their roster. Texas can counter inside with Sara, Jordan and Olamide. MSU will have several 6-1 players to throw into the fray. One has to wonder, though, with the 6-7 McCowan and the 6-5 Okorie, if MSU will gamble on guarding Imani and Kelsey one on one while depending on ball pressure on our guards to prevent easy passes inside.

Guard play will be important as MSU’s head coach, Vic Schaefer, helped put together that infamous A&M press while an assistant coach there. Forcing 2.8 times more TOs from opponents than they average, including 40 more steals, one has to think that a lot of pressure is a main stay of their defense. Horns will need to be able to run their press breaker options fearlessly. On the other hand, I doubt that MSU has faced a team with guards as quick as the Horns this season.

Team Stats.............................Texas...........Miss. State
Scoring......................................389................468
PPG...........................................77.8...............93.6
Scoring Margin..........................+30.2.............+56.4
FGs Made-Att.............................143-316.........179-404
FG Ave/Game Made-Att..............28.6-63.2.......35.8-80.8
FG%.........................................45.3..............44.3
2pt Made-Att............................115-237.........140-288
2pt FGs Ave/Game Made-Att......23-47.4..........28-57.6
2pt FG%..................................48.5...............48.6
3p FGs Made-Att.......................28-79.............39-116
3pt Ave/Game Made-Att............5.6-15.8.........7.8-23.2
3pt FG%..................................35.4...............33.6
FTs Made-Att...........................75-116...........71-89
FT Ave/Game Made-Att............15-23.2..........14.2-17.8
FT %......................................64.7...............79.8
Rebounds...............................229................255
RPG.......................................45.8...............51.0
Reb Margin............................+13.6.............+21.8
Assists...................................76..................117
APG......................................15.2................23.4
Turnovers.............................70...................49
TOPG...................................14.0................9.8
TO Margin............................+6.0...............+18.4
A/TO Ratio...........................1.1..................2.4
Steals..................................46...................65
SPG.....................................9.2..................13.0
Blocks.................................23....................34
BPG....................................4.6...................6.8
Winning Streak....................5......................5
Home Win Streak.................3......................5
Home Attendance................12685...............21067
Attendance Ave/Game.........3-4228..............5-4213

Score by quarters (ave)...1st......2nd......3rd......4th......Total
Texas(5-0)..........................19.6......19.8......20.4.....18.0......77.8
Miss. State (5-0)..................24.6......23.8......24.2.....21.0......93.6

Miss. State has some eyepopping stats. But of their five home games, Samford may have been their toughest opponent. Before Tennessee, Texas did not boast a much tougher schedule with Rice and Hampton the toughest games. Texas will be the first ranked opponent that Miss. State will face this season. Offensively, the numbers are pretty even. The Bulldogs do have a pretty clear edge in FT% although Texas makes that up with quantity, averaging 23 FT attempts to MSU’s 16 FTs attempts.

In the Tenn game, a rotation that had been 11 deep for Texas dropped to seven with two others playing 5 minutes or less. Currently, MSU is playing mainly 11 players. It will be interesting to see if their rotation also shortens in their first big test of the season. And if ours also stays short or if a couple of more players are added to the mix.

Game time is 7pm this coming Wednesday evening. It is expected to be a cold night with temperatures in the 40s. Time to break out the jackets, hats and gloves. The game will be televised on the Longhorn Network.

 

What's most intriguing about the Mississippi State match-up is the relationships between players as Mississippi State has 6 players from Texas high schools.

I've watched Brooke (Clear Springs HS) grow up playing with Dominique Dillingham (Klein Collins HS) on every AAU team based in Houston since they were in elementary school. Whenever you saw Brooke, you saw Dominique. Brooke was always the cerebral one and the engine that ran the teams; while Dominique was the physical one who didn't back down.

During the high school senior year, Ariel, Tasia, Brooke, and Dominique teamed together to win the Nike Elite Championship during summer ball.

Moreover, Brianna and and Kayla Nevitt were teammates in high school and led Dekaney HS to state in 2012 where they eventually lost to Empress, Ariel, and Tasia of Duncanville HS.

 

Wednesday's game is the Orange Santa game. Bring an unwrapped new toy to donate.

texassports.com game preview: http://www.texassports.com/news/2015/12/1/WBB_1201155949.aspx

Higgs Big 12 FOW: http://www.texassports.com/news/2015/11/30/WBB_1130154853.aspx

MSU’s McCowan SEC FOW: http://www.hailstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=16800&ATCLID=210549690

MSU game preview: http://www.hailstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=16800&ATCLID=210548780

AAS game preview:
http://www.hookem.com/2015/12/01/another-big-test-awaits-no-6-longhorns/

Daily Texan story on Coach Thompson:
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/section/sports

 

GO TEXAS!

 

Horrible first half, the players need to have better basketball IQ. Also, Coach Aston needs to run a better offense because right now the players just dribble the ball in one spot without any movement from other players.

 

I don't know what I just saw. If they couldn't score on the break; they were not going to score. The ability of this offense to create open shots is not there. And if they couldn't fix this over the off-season, I don't know what does. You have to score if you are going to be considered elite.

 

This game is so ugly! Tasia does not need to be playing this much. Finally Lashann is in and we still can't make free throws

 

Yep, especially when Lashann is the only perimeter player on the team that can either get into the lane or create her own shot against the kind of ball pressure that Miss St. is playing.

 

Because Coach Aston's offense isn't very good she just needs to put the ball in Lashann's hands and tell everyone else to get the hell out of the way. They can't keep her out of the lane, she just needs to finish better and make better decisions when she's there.

 

To me, 53-47, 83-77, whatever, a 6 point win is a 6 point win.

 

It was a pretty painful basketball experience, but Imani was fantastic. To think how much her skills have grown since she was a freshman.

 

It was more Defense played then anything.
Great Job by both Team's.
I do feel that Texas could have beat them by 20 points though.
Hookem'

 

Glad for the win. This helps when jockeying for position among the 16 host schools come tourney time.

But, so many mistakes by all the players. Celina and Brooke were so careless at times. Rodrigo has to learn not to pick up her dribble so often. Had Hattis converted on her 2 missed layups, I think that would have helped Texas find a rhythm.

Hosey does not look comfortable at al out there; not sure if it's injury-related, but it's gonna take a big turnaround for her to be a significant contributor this season.

Brady appeared healthy, but didn't do much in her limited action.

We're seeing a healthy Imani; that's who she is when not in pain.

Tasia got a lot of minutes; had mixed results. Not sure if putting her on the floor and Lashann on the bench was some sort of teaching lesson to Higgs.

Brianna has a much improved 3-point shot; she needs to shoot a bit more.

Empress did some very good things tonight; happy to see her have success tonight.

 

Well, if it has to be ugly to win that's fine with me! The TN game wasn't pretty either.

 

Yeah, I think it had to be ugly - playing against Vic Shaefer's team was a lot like playing against the Aggies of old, when the Aggies were just beginning to build their program.

 

Coach Aston credited the ugly play to the Mississippi st defense and to a certain extent this is true. I do think this is some of the toughest defense the team will see this year. But to be sure, Texas made many more mistakes than they should have. And if they don't start hitting their free throws, they are going to lose some games they should win. I don't know why LaShan didn't play more, maybe because she couldn't seem to finish tonight. I would much rather have her out there than Tasia. She can get to the bucket almost anytime she wants, but she has to learn to finish. You are right, Hosey doesn't seem to know what she's doing yet. I don't think she will contribute much this year, but I hope I'm wrong.

 

I agree stars need time to go 1/7. Maybe Higgs learned her lesson and Tasia can go back to her place .God forbid only 7 attemps and not 1 assist.Sorry Tasia has'nt been giving the oppurtunity because she didnt pay to get rankings out of high school. This team is still looking for the superstar and its looks great on paper..... until you get to a team like UCONN. People still dont get it . He gets 5 star 4 star 3 star no star players , breaks everybody down and builds a team. Teams hangs banners .... yes I am a family member . I already see whats going on here. I will just view from the stands. Tasia comes from teamwork and back to back titles.. and she didnt come off the bench when they were won. But anyway , whoever is on the court , focus should be Big 12 Title .Rocks stars are great and fun to watch, But those banners will hang forever.

 

I wasn't going to watch the recorded game after hearing all the comments.......but then got curious. BIG MISTAKE! Relieved we got the W but we looked HORRIBLE! Agree with you on Celina and Brooke. They looked nervous or something! What the hell is going to happen when we play a really good team like Baylor or OU???? Hosey needs to get comfortable and I think we needed to use her more in weaker games so that she can get the plays down. They have been using LaShann to get her some good minutes to feel more comfortable (although tonight wasn't her night). Brady definitely was not herself. Maybe seeing so little minutes has got her off. At least the other players are getting in there enough to work through some stuff. Seems Aston pulled her after she makes one mistake in a minute or two of play. I know she's getting worked on (foot) before and after games. Maybe the foot just will not be ready. Same surgery that Cokie had and she never came back from it. Would loved to have seen Imani play the past couple years like she is now. I know she was working through some injuries but MAN she would have been lethal! Hopefully she keeps it up and ends this last season with a BANG! I'm liking Tasia in there, but do see she needs to improve on decision play and not panicking. Maybe with more floor time it will come. After all, that is how LaShann is pulling through. She has seen a lot of playing time and that will always help. She was very wild at first of season, but is trying to learn the plays still I'm sure. She's definitely got raw talent, but she needs to learn the plays so she doesn't look like she's trying to do it all herself and also so that everyone on the floor can work together. When one person doesn't know the plays it makes it look like the other four on the floor don't know what the heck they're doing! Brianna and Empress played pretty good and would love for Brianna to SHOOT more 3s!

I think overall....this team is just trying to find a rhythm and that's why it looks so sloppy and maybe a little stagnant at times. It's like they're not meshing well. We better snap out of it before this weekend!

 

I'm sorry but I'm going to tend to agree with you on this one. I've always said the rankings are just a tool for coaches to notice a name..... and I've seen girls that weren't ranked do great things in college. With a team full of "ranked" players we should be killing everybody. We are barely getting by. I'm just praying it gets better as we go! Please God!

 

I can agree and disagree with some of these posts as I know some will disagree with me at times, but right now this team has NO STARS! Everyone of these girls have had great games from time to time everyone of these girls has had their "OFF" games (ok, I'll say it.....played like crap!). There IS a reason each of them made this team and playing D1 basketball at the best school ever! Pretty much everyone of them had several offers, and not to just some podunk schools. They go through some of the most rigorous practices I have ever seen (and I've seen a LOT of D1 practices.) Nothing short of physical and verbal abuse. They put their bodies through the ringer and play sick and/or hurt. Most of them excel in their academics and have gotten awards out the wazzoo! They miss their families and get yelled at by so called fans that "have NO idea". The things I've heard!!!! They get critiqued by us (professionals of course! That was being sarcastic!) Some of them might have personal and emotional issues we know nothing about. They're human by gosh! I know most of us love them and appreciate them and all they do! I will support each of these girls even though at times they make me want to pull my hair out! HOOK 'EM FREAKING HORNS!!!!!!

 

Dominique was not on that nike championship team but yes they played together as did bri Taylor and Nevitt.

 

Doing things like beating top 10 teams in back to back games?

 

I don't know how in the world Texas let the kid from Brenham, Tiaira Mccowen, get out and go to Miss State. Considering that was her 6th Division I college game she looked great! Much better than Imani did at that stage of her career. She is going to be a beast some day in future years and may come back to haunt us!

 

Exactly. Enjoy the wins!

 

I loved the game. It was a defensive battle throughout. Both teams played tremendous half court defense, something I truly appreciate. The difference was Imani could beat her post opponent down the court on transition for lay-ups. Texas also converted (way too many times) on baseline in-bound plays. Great grind it out battle against a top-10 team.

The SEC should go ahead and award Texas the SEC championship trophy after defeating #4 Tennessee and #9 Mississippi State.

 

Tiaira is a powerful player in the post. She's built like and plays like Shaq. But she's not athletic enough for the up tempo offense/transition offense for Texas. That is why Imani was able to beat her down the court for lay-ups. That is why Texas was never in the picture.