Sunday will be the fourth meeting between the Texas Longhorns (1-1) and the Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-0). They met twice in 2009 on neutral courts. Miss. State won the first game on March 21 by a score of 71-63. Horns got revenge that fall on Nov. 26 winning game two 73-55. Their next meeting did not happen until six years later on Dec. 02, 2015. The Horns won 53-47 in Austin to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Sunday, on their home court in Starkville, the Bulldogs will try to even the series. Texas will look to extend their winning streak in the series to three games in a row. This will be the first home game for Miss. State. Their first two games were played in Bangor, Maine and their last game was in Biloxi, MS. The two are ranked in the top ten in both polls. In the AP, Texas is # 8 & Miss. State # 10. In the USA Today Coaches poll, Miss. State is # 9 while Texas comes in at # 10. There will be some familiar faces to Texas fans (and some Texas players) on the Miss. State bench as well as on the court. /Roshunda Johnson , a RS junior guard now eligible to play, was as Oklahoma State for her freshman and sophomore seasons where she started 31 games as a soph and was an All Big 12 Tournament team selection after being on the All Big 12 Freshmen Team the previous season. Head coach Vic Schaefer was the Texas A&M defensive guru when the Aggies were dominating the Horns wining eleven in a row from Feb. 2007 to March 2011 before Texas broke through and won the last two before the Aggies went to the SEC in July 2012. Assistant coach Dionnah Jackson-Durrent is a former OU player. Mary Ann Baker and Skylar Collins played for A&M, including during their national title run in 2011. Baker is the Director of Operations and Collins the Director of Scouting/Video Coodinator. Another member of that 2011 national championship team was manager Christine Richardson who is now a grad assistant at Miss. State. Victoria Vivians (# 35, 6-1 Jr. G) leads the Bulldogs in scoring at 15.7 ppg. She was an honorable mention All American the last two seasons and progressed from second team All SEC her freshman year to first team All SEC her sophomore year. Johnson (# (# 11, 5-7 RS Jr. G), the Ok. State transfer, is second in scoring at 12.7 ppg off the bench. Vivians (17-40 FGs) and Teaira McCowan (# 15, 5-7 Soph. C; 12-21 FGs) are the only players to reach 20+ FG attempts. Johnson is the leader in FG% at 72.2% on 13-18 FGs. McCown (57.1% on 12 of 21 FGs); Morgan William (# 2, 5-5 Jr. G; 53.3% on 8-15 FGs) and Dominique Dillingham (# 00, 5-9 Sr. G; 50.0% on 7-14 FGs) are the top FG% shooters on the team for players that have taken at least 10 shots. Johnson (8-12, 66.7%) and Vivians (6-18, 33.3%) are the top two 3pt shooters. They have attempted 30 of MSU’s 43 three pter attempts and have 14 of the 19 treys made. Seven players are making 80% or better of their FTs. As a team, the Bulldogs are at 73.4%. Chinwe Okorie (# 45, 6-5 Sr. C) at 6.3 rpg, McCowan at 6.0 rpg and Dilllingham at 4.3 rpg are the leading rebounders for Miss. State. Top assist leaders are William (12 assists) and Jazzmun Holmes (# 10, 5-8 Soph. G; 11 assists). McCowan with two blocks has half of the team’s four blocks in three games. The Bulldogs average just over 10 steals a game with Dillingham (seven), William (six) and Vivians (four) the leaders. The starters have been the same all three games: Vivians, Dillingham, William, Okorie and Breanna Richardson (# 3, 6-1 Sr. F). Top reserves are Johnson, McCowan, Holmes, Blair Schaefer (# 1, 5-7 Jr. G) and Ketara Chapel (# 13, 6-1 Sr. F). All ten players average between 11 (Johnson) and 28 mpg (Dillingham). Two others have seen action in all three games with one more having gotten into two games. This is a deep squad with decent height in the starting lineup and coming off the bench. Horns are led by three players averaging double figures after two games: Brooke (18.0 ppg), Ariel and Joyner, each at 12.5 ppg. Those three lead the team in FGs attempted at 28, 19 & 21, respectively. Brianna (75.0%), Jada (57.1%), Brooke (50.0%) and Ariel (47.4%) lead the team in FG%. Brooke has taken 10 3pters, twice as many as Ariel, who has the second most 3 trey attempts on the team. Brooke is at 60% from BTA. Ariel is hitting 40%. LaShann and Alecia each have hit the only trey they have attempted. Joyner is tops on the team with 6 of ten FTs. Ariel is tied for second in FTs made and second in FTs attempted, having connected on 5-8. Audrey (4-4) and Jordan (2-2) are perfect from the FT line. Jada is second in FT% at 71.4% on 5-7 FTs. Audrey and Joyner are tied for the rebounding lead at 6.0 rpg each. Jordan is second at 5.0 rpg. Brianna is third at 4.0 rpg. Six others average at least 3.0 rpg. Brooke & LaShann are tied with six assists each. Brianna is second with five assists. Joyner is the top shotblocker with four. Jada, Audrey and Kelsey all have two blocks each. Ariel is tops in steals with seven. Brooke and Brianna are next with 3 steals apiece. Texas has had two different lineups in two games. The constants have been Brooke, Ariel and Brianna. Joyner and Audrey started the second game in place of Kelsey and Tasia. Eleven players have seen action in both games. Olamide played in game two while Khaléann has yet to be released to play from a minor injury. If she doesn’t play in this game, hopefully, she will be back on the court next week. Brooke is averaging the most mpg at 29.0. Ariel is second at 23.5. Eight others average between 19.5 and 11.5 mpg. Two average less than 10 mpg. At this time, depth runs 11 deep. Projected starters based on the last game: Texas_______________Miss. State Joyner (6-3)________ Richardson (6-1) Ariel (5-11)_________ Vivians (6-1) Audrey (6-3)_______ Okorie (6-5) Brianna (5-9)______ Dillingham (5-9) Brooke (5-4)_______William (5-5) Vivians hit for 12 pts in last season’s game. But she hit on only five of twenty shots from the field and one of seven from BTA. Horns will need a similar defensive effort to slow her down. The Bulldogs were unable to handle Imani in the paint last season. It’s a tossup on which team will be able to dominate in the paint or if it will be a wash. Vivians will be the focus of the Miss. State offense. But the Horns can’t lose sight of Johnson when she is in. She has been instant offense for the Bulldogs. Brooke and Ariel will the top guns for the Horns while Joyner will be an x factor in the post for the Horns. That’s primarily due to the fact that she is a freshman and may not be that consistent from game to game. Horns do have a more experienced rotation in the post than does MSU. Depth should not be an issue for either team as both go at least ten deep. Team Stats______________________Texas (1-1)_________Miss. State (3-0) Scoring__________________________157_________________261 PPG_____________________________78.5_________________87.0 Scoring Margin_________________+20.0_________________+35.7 FGs Made-Att___________________59-144______________92-184 FG Ave/Game Made-Att_________29.5-72.0___________30.7-61.3 FG%____________________________41.0_________________50.0% 2pt Made-Att___________________46-115_______________73-141 2pt FGs Ave/Game Made-Att___23.0-57.5___________24.3-47.0 2pt FG%________________________40.0_________________51.8% 3p FGs Made-Att______________13-29_________________19-43 3pt Ave/Game Made-Att_______6.5-14.5______________6.3-14.3 3pt FG%_______________________44.8__________________44.2% FTs Made-Att__________________26-43_________________58-79 FT Ave/Game Made-Att________13.0-21.5_____________19.3-26.3 FT %___________________________60.5__________________73.4% Rebounds_____________________93____________________118 RPG___________________________46.5___________________39.3 Reb Margin___________________+17.5__________________+15.0 Assists________________________27_____________________46 APG___________________________13.5__________________15.3 Turnovers_____________________28____________________38 TOPG_________________________14.0___________________12.70 TO Margin____________________+8.5___________________+9.0 A/TO Ratio____________________1.0____________________1.2 Steals_________________________30_____________________32 SPG___________________________10.0___________________10.7 Blocks_________________________12____________________4 BPG___________________________6.0___________________1.3 Winning Streak_______________1______________________-0- Home Win Streak_____________1_____________________-0- Home Attendance____________6378__________________-0- Attendance Ave/Game________1-6378________________-0- Score by quarters (ave)______1st______2nd_____3rd _____4th______Total Texas (1-1)____________________23.0____20.0_____22.5_____13.0_____78.5 Miss. State (3-0)_______________21.3____24.3_____17.7_____23.7_____87.0 MSU is shooting better from inside the arc, 50% to 41%. Neither team is overly dependent on the three. Texas is taking 20% of their shots from BTA; MSU 23%. One thing that MSU has not done so far has been to block shots. They have a total of four in three games. Joyner has four all by herself in two games. I am looking for a physical game. If the refs let them play, everyone is going to end up black and blue. If not, both teams are going to be glad they are so deep. This should be an awesome game to watch. Our frosh are going to gain a lot of valuable experience playing in this game. Our ballhandling will be tested. We are going to need other players besides our PGs to help bring the ball up against pressure. But, there is the opportunity for a lot of layups if we can break the pressure. The game will be this Sunday at 5:00 PM CST. It will be televised on the SEC Network. That’s cable channel 384 on Spectrum in the Austin area. The radio station carrying the game in Austin is 105.3 FM. MSU is putting on a big show for this game. They averaged just over 5 thousand per home game last season and want to fill their arena Sunday. http://hailstate.com/news/2016/11/15/womens-basketball-fan-details-announced-for-sundays-starkvegas-night-against-no-8-texas.aspx The Daily Texan pregame story: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2016/11/18/longhorns-aim-to-maintain-momentum-against-mississippi-state Anyone that remembers how the Aggies used to play can figure out how this Miss. State plays D. I am surprised that the Miss. State student paper didn’t have a story about two top ten WBB teams meeting for the Bulldogs first home game of the season. Texassports.com pregame story: http://www.texassports.com/news/2016/11/19/no-8-womens-basketball-preview-no-10-mississippi-state-nov-20-2016.aspx Miss. State pregame story: http://hailstate.com/news/2016/11/19/womens-basketball-top-10-showdown-set-for-starkvegas-night-at-the-hump-on-sunday.aspx
For those that are not going to Starkville and want to watch the game with a group: Texas Longhorn Women's Basketball Watch Party What: University of Texas vs. Mississippi State Watch Party When: Sunday, November 20th, 5pm Where: Buffalo Wild Wings, 13000 N IH35 - Parmer Lane and IH35 All are welcome to come by and cheer the team.
Have to wonder if the AAS pregame story of Texas vs Miss. State got lost in all the noise about the FB team losing to KU for the first time since 1938--in case you hadn't heard. Not a peep from Rick Cantu about our WBB team.
From the starvilledailynews.com site: http://www.starkvilledailynews.com/content/msu-women-host-texas-top-10-basketball-battle It's about as stark as a story can be. I think they get charged by the word, instead of getting paid. Still, it's better than anything the AAS has put up so far, which is nothing.
for those that are interested, the AAS writeup on the pregame by Rick Cantui is on page two of the paper edition. Nothing online, though. It is a pretty decent writeup with lots of good info. It's almost a quarter of a page. Good to see.
16 all at the end of one. Kelsey playing well with two assists and three rebs in the first. Really is a good game so far.
Kelsey not getting help when she rotates on D. That was a poor entry pass to her as well. Behind and easy pickings for MSU.
can't go under the screen when Johnson has the ball. She needs a split second to take the shot and she will make it more often than not. Horns not as composed as they need to be.
I wonder why there are no plays for Audrey-Ann to be open on the perimeter like Joyner and Jada are getting? Whew, this is getting way out of hand.
42-25 MSU. 15 TOs for the Horns, many self inflicted. Leaders: Joyner w/ 7 pts, Brooke & Ariel with 6 pts apiece. Kelsey with 7 rebs; Jada with two blocks; Brooke & Kelsey with 2 assists each. MSU has taken 18 more shots and made 9 more than the Horns. Another key, maybe the key stat: MSU 3 TOs; Texas 15 TOs.
Man, that was bad. They are obviously killing us on the drive, not unlike Stanford did. I knew Imani was important, but, that's an understatement. It seems like most teams have a 6'7" player these days. We seem short these days. As always, I wish we would see some adjustments from Aston, but not expecting it. I plea as always for a zone when we are getting killed inside. They are doing some good things with screens. I never see that from us. It's fun to watch Joyner. I wish we could settle down enough to run something for her. Brooke is so impressive.
