With several practices passed and many more to come, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team will kick off the season with an exhibition game Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Humphrey Coliseum. The Lady Bulldogs will be playing DT3, a combination of former basketball players.
Head coach Sharon Fanning said the exhibition game will be a chance for her to see what improvements the team will need to make before the regular season begins.
Fanning said she thinks the exhibition game will present many opportunities to the players, coaches and fans.
“Exhibition games give the team and coaches a chance to practice the game setting before the game season starts,” she said. “It will also give the team a chance to work on their systems offense and defense-wise.”
Fanning said the team feels like it is well prepared for the upcoming season.
The team is only allowed two hours of practice time per week until mid-October.
Since the beginning of the semester, Fanning said she has been holding individual practices with the players, with up to four attending each practice.
Fanning said the team has practiced techniques since Oct. 12 and played transition and half-court games.
“I have them practice time and score, which helps them determine what they should do if they only have 12 or 13 seconds left in the game and they need to take the ball,” Fanning said.
She said the competition in the SEC will be tough this season, with both LSU and Tennessee expected to finish atop their respective divisions. Both of those teams competed in the NCAA Final Four last season.
The Lady Bulldogs look forward to beginning SEC play, which will kick off on Jan. 10 against the Vanderbilt Lady Commodores.
“We play everyone once and we play Ole Miss twice,” Fanning said. “We have the opportunity to play a lot of good teams.”
Fanning said that every regional team wants to play an SEC team.
When the team travels to Cancun, Mexico on Nov. 22 and 23, it will take on Iowa and Oklahoma, both top 15 teams.
Fanning said she has several expectations for the upcoming season, the most important coaching a more consistent team.
“We have a shirt that says finish on it, F-I-N-I-S-H, and that is what we want this season, a better finish,” Fanning said. “As a team, we not only want a better finish but we want to be better around the bucket. We want better games and a better season.”
Last season, the Lady Bulldogs went to the National Invitation Tournament, which Fanning said was beneficial for such a young, inexperienced team.
Last year’s team started off with two freshmen, a sophomore and one junior transfer.
This year’s goal for the Lady Bulldogs is to make an NCAA tournament appearance.
“I would really like to see the team go to the NCAA tournament just as bad as the girls would like to go,” Fanning said.