Three up, three down for Mississippi State as SEC play approaches

After a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Colorado State on the road last Wednesday, Mississippi State is now 12-2 with one final non-conference tuneup — at home against Mississippi Valley State on Friday — before the start of Southeastern Conference play. The Dispatch takes a look here at what has gone right and wrong so far for the Bulldogs.

Three up

Jessika Carter

MSU’s center, in her sixth season with the Bulldogs, missed three games with an injury earlier in the year, two of which were losses against Miami and Chattanooga. But the veteran showed no signs of rust upon her return, putting up a career-high 31 points to go along with 13 rebounds in her first game back against Kennesaw State. She followed that up with two more double-doubles — 17 points and 18 rebounds against Jackson State, then 17 points and 13 boards against Memphis — and also had six blocks against the Tigers en route to SEC Co-Player of the Week honors. Most of the post players MSU has faced in non-conference play have been no match for Carter, and she will soon test herself once again against the SEC’s best.

3-point shooting

Carter’s post dominance is complemented by a plethora of outside shooters who have helped the Bulldogs rank third in the SEC with a 3-point percentage of .367. Sophomore Debreasha Powe, who started every game but one as a freshman, is MSU’s 3-point specialist, knocking down 37 of 86 shots from deep (43 percent). Lauren Park-Lane, a graduate transfer from Seton Hall, set a program record with 10 made 3-pointers to lead the Bulldogs to that win last week over the Rams and is also shooting 43 percent from 3-point range for the season. JerKaila Jordan and Darrione Rogers are also occasional deep threats for MSU’s offense.

Ball security

Park-Lane, even while struggling as a scorer this month before breaking out against Colorado State, was still dishing out plenty of assists and has an assist-turnover ratio of 88-33. Her 6.3 assists per game are second in the SEC, and the Bulldogs are among the conference’s least turnover-prone teams, coughing the ball up 12.9 times per game. MSU is 24th out of 348 Division I teams nationally with 1.38 assists for every turnover.

Three down

Overall roster depth

The Bulldogs were down three post players in last month’s loss to Miami, and that’s not even counting Ramani Parker, who was lost for the season in the second game of the year. Carter, Arkansas transfer Erynn Barnum and freshman Quinirah Montague are all back now, but Nyayongah Gony has now missed the last four games with a foot injury. MSU currently has nine healthy players, with hardly any room to lose anyone else as the schedule gets more difficult. Jordan, Park-Lane, Powe, Rogers and freshman Mjracle Sheppard give the Bulldogs some wiggle room at guard, but Carter and Barnum may not get many chances to rest in the frontcourt.

Perimeter defense

This was a minor concern at the end of last month, and it remains an issue heading into SEC play as MSU is allowing the third-highest 3-point percentage in the conference. Against Jackson State, two Tigers bench players, Hayleigh Breland and Taylor Woodhouse, combined to go 7-for-12 from behind the arc. Chattanooga was 8-for-17 from deep in its come-from-behind win over the Bulldogs on Dec. 3, and strong 3-point shooting teams like Vanderbilt and South Carolina loom ahead early in conference play.

Forcing turnovers

MSU hasn’t been turning the ball over, but the Bulldogs also haven’t been taking it away, ranking second to last in the SEC with 14.3 turnovers forced per game. Sheppard has been a force on the defensive end with 16 steals in one four-game stretch, and Jordan leads MSU with a shade under two steals per game. But even with a guard-heavy roster, the Bulldogs have struggled to generate defensive pressure at times, a potentially worrisome sign with the opponents they still have ahead of them.