State's defense shines in opener, but offense has work to do
- Story byNortheast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
- State's defense shines in opener, but offense has work to do
STARKVILLE — In its first game of the year, Mississippi State's women's basketball team showcased about a third of its identity.
The Bulldogs showed toughness, but lacked discipline and connection in its 68-27 season-opening win over North Alabama on Tuesday night at the Humphrey Coliseum.
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"A lot of what I saw today is what I thought. We needed to be under the lights," State coach Sam Purcell said. "But in a game that had some ugliness on the offensive end, boy, was it impressive on the defensive end."
MSU (1-0) forced 33 turnovers and scored 28 points off of them. That included 20 steals, which is the most the team has had in a game since 2015. Its 27 points allowed were the fewest in a game since Purcell took the job.
The Bulldogs committed 18 turnovers, but they only resulted in four UNA points. North Alabama shot 9 of 54 (17%) from the field while State shot 27 of 64 (42%).
"To throw out a 1-2-2 press, and then mix it up with a man and full-court press," Purcell said of the defense. "I think that gave us that turnover edge that we needed, and allowed us to get a lead early in this game."
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Mississippi State committed five turnovers in the first 5:48 of the contest and could not buy a bucket early. That was until Macie Phifer, in her first offensive possession as a Bulldog, came off the bench and nailed a three for the team's first field goal of the game.
It took time to materialize, but that three ended up being the start of a 13-2 run for the maroon and white, which led to a 15-6 lead over the Lions (0-1) after one quarter. All 13 of those points came from bench players, who would end up accounting for 30 points in the game.
The turnovers continued in the second quarter as the Bulldogs committed nine in the 10-minute span. However, starting point guard Reese Beaty book-ended a 9-0 run early on that made it 24-8 at the 4:11 mark.
Favour Nwaedozi did not have a field goal in the first half. She opened the second with three straight, then added another layup midway through to make it 40-19 with 5:14 to go in the quarter. State ended the game on a 24-9 run to close it out.
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"The first quarter wasn't really what Mississippi State basketball was about," Nwaedozi said. "So coming out at halftime, we knew we had to pick it up and really show what our standard is about, and that was exactly what we did."
Nwaedozi ended up leading the Bulldogs with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Madison Francis trailed with 13 points.
Toughness, discipline and connection were the three big things Purcell wanted to be a part of the team's identity. It showed the former, but not the latter two.
In order to improve on the two, the team will need to learn from film.
"They're fun to coach, but when things don't go in, that's where I've got to challenge them. We've got to be more direct with each other. We've got to hold each other more accountable," Purcell said. "If we take a bad shot, somebody's got to tell them to reverse that ball, or the post has got to demand it louder so that we get it inside. Easy stuff that I expect us to fix here at the next practice."
The Bulldogs will travel to Tennessee-Martin next on Sunday. The teams will tip off at 2 p.m. on SEC Network+.
