Mississippi State, Notre Dame set to compete for national championship

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two different teams have managed to knock off the UConn Huskies in a national semifinal in back-to-back seasons. Both teams did so on game-winnning jumpers from the right side of the floor. Those two programs will have a shot at winning the ultimate prize, a national championship, Sunday night at Nationwide Arena (6 PM ET, ESPN).

As you know by now, Notre Dame guard Arike Ogunbowale splashed the game-winner Friday night against UConn. Not 12 hours later, her attention had shifted from that moment for the ages. She and her team were being asked about the next opponent.

Mississippi State earned a return trip to the national championship game with a 73-63 overtime win over the Louisville Cardinals.

“They are a great all-around team. They have a great center, they have great perimeter
shooters, and guard play, so it’ll be a good matchup,” Ogunbowale said.

That center, Teaira McCowan, towers above most of her opponents at 6’7. She brought her absolute best against Louisville on Friday, finishing with 21 points, 25 rebounds (13 offensive) and three blocks. She played all 45 minutes.

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“She is a great player and has improved significantly in her time at Mississippi State,” Notre Dame’s Jessica Shepard said. “She knows how to rebound, block shots, and finish down low.”

Shepard, a high profile transfer from Nebraska, has been the key presence inside for the Irish this season. She had 15 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in 43 minutes against UConn. Shepard and the Irish were forced to finish over length against the Huskies — Katie Lou Samuelson, Gabby Williams and Napheesa Collier are long and athletic defenders. UConn also brings 6’6 Azura Stevens off the bench.

But to put it simply, McCowan is just bigger and stronger. Notre Dame Muffet McGraw was very direct when asked what her team could do to contain her.

“I don’t know that you can,” McGraw said. “You’ve got to try to get a body on her, but she’s just so darn big that you can’t outjump her.”

Shepard left the court briefly against UConn after rolling her ankle. McGraw said she did not expect Shepard or senior starting forward Kathryn Westbeld to practice on Saturday.

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Reserve forward Kristina Nelson may be counted on for additional minutes if Shepard’s ankle becomes a larger issue, or if foul trouble arises for the Irish.

The Bulldogs will have their hands full defensively as well. Ogunbowale can create her own shot at any moment. Marina Mabrey has been a lights out shooter in the postseason for the Irish while also taking on more playmaking duties this season.

Then there’s sophomore Jackie Young. She delivered a career night at the best possible time. Her 32 points and 11 rebounds (5 offensive) punished a UConn team that chose to live with leaving her open early in the game. Once she got rolling, she was too determined and confident to be stopped in key moments down the stretch.

“She has no real weaknesses in her game,” McGraw said of Young. “She can defend, she can
rebound, and she can score. She can pass. She can handle. So she can do all these things, I think, as well as anybody we’ve ever had.”

Photo via South Bend Tribune/MICHAEL CATERINA

Young’s arrival on such a big stage is the last thing a Bulldogs fan would have wanted to see. Shepard is an experienced, polished scorer. Westbeld is a senior that has played in big NCAA Tournament games with the Irish before. Mabrey and Ogunbowale are best friends with a great feel for one another on the court, even with games hanging in the balance.

Mabrey broke down Friday’s final possession against UConn, saying, “At the end I looked as if I was going to go take the shot, but I was like ‘I’m not really having the greatest night. Arike’s really hot right now. This is her time.’ I called her over for a handoff, gave it to her, and told everyone to get out of the way.”

Mabrey, too, has come through in big moments for the Irish as a scorer. She hit six three-pointers in the opening round against Cal State Northridge, then knocked down seven threes against Texas A&M in the Sweet 16. Ogunbowale told High Post Hoops earlier in the week about her favorite memory to date of Mabrey as a teammate — her go-ahead three-pointer that finished off a 23-point comeback over Tennessee in the regular season.

Throughout the weekend, McGraw has highlighted that win over Tennessee as a turning point in their season. Now that Notre Dame has made it this far and is playing with so much confidence, what’s a team to do to try and stop them? Ogunbowale commands an opponent’s best perimeter defender to contain her off the bounce. Teams know they can’t leave Mabrey alone to fire away.

McGraw, however, doesn’t expect Young to be left alone again to start Sunday’s championship game. “I don’t think they’re going to leave her open. I think it will be a little different defensively,” she said.

The Bulldogs do bring different strengths to the table defensively than UConn. McCowan is a shot-altering presence at the basket. Their perimeter defense is stout as well. Vic Schaefer’s team is stocked with quick guards capable of pressuring the ball without getting burned for layups.

Morgan William, Blair Schaefer, Roshunda Johnson, Jazzmun Holmes and Jordan Danberry are like-sized players that all execute Schaefer’s vision for the team’s defense.

Leading scorer Victoria Vivians is a big bigger at 6’1 and has expressed a desire to lock in more on that part of her game this season. Her size will be key against Westbeld, a forward that can hit the offensive glass and has wonderful high-low chemistry with Shepard as both a passer and cutter.

The unique challenge defensively for Notre Dame comes in matching up with Vivians, acting as a stretch four with McCowan waiting to clean up around the rim.

Vivians has been an efficient scorer this season (41.0% from three, 51.7% on twos) but got a quick hook several times Friday from her coach.

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“Last night her first two shots they were in her shot chart, they just weren’t necessarily in mine,” Schaefer said. “And so for her, it’s just been showing film, showing shot selection, hey, there’s a hand in your face, you’re contested heavily. Or, hey, you’re settling here, look who is guarding you, go get you a 10-footer instead of the 22-footer.

“The longer she’s been with me, she’s gone from being that volume shooter and gotta score to now understanding what shot selection is and enjoying the pass and the assist and being able to make it.”

McGraw noted that she will have to wait and see how her team does against Mississippi State before determining whether or not they’ll be able to rely as much on their 2-3 zone as they did against UConn.

It’d be hard to imagine Mississippi State turning to anything other than their pressure man-to-man, though Vic Schaefer showed a great deal of respect for Notre Dame’s dynamic and balanced attack.

“They just have so many weapons offensively and they have so many ways they can score,” Schaefer said. “They’re smart. I’ll tell you what they do well, they pass interiorly well — in the lane, 10 feet, five feet — they’re just really good, they’re smart and heady, even I think their leadership really stands out especially when you go through what they’ve gone through.”

You’ve heard about Notre Dame’s injury woes by now, too. The Irish have gotten this far by focusing on who they do have available rather than dwelling on who isn’t.

“You really have to just look at what we have,” Westbeld said. “I think as each person went down, that’s what our coach kind of kept saying to us. We have to look at what we have and not what we’re missing.”

Mississippi State has all of its best players healthy and available for Sunday’s championship. But they carry with them the burden from last year, having knocked off UConn in the semifinal on a game-winning jumper just like Notre Dame. The Bulldogs, though, fell to South Carolina in last year’s title game. They’re entering Sunday with their minds set on finishing the job.

“We lost last year so we have unfinished business. This year we know what we have to do. We have to come in and finish it out,” Vivians said.

Every member of the Fighting Irish expressed an awareness of the idea that they needed to quickly turn the page coming off such a significant victory. Perhaps they’ll be able to do so with last year’s Bulldogs serving as an example of what they want to avoid.

“ was a huge win for us, but that wasn’t the only win that we wanted to get,” Westbeld said. “We absolutely want to win a national championship.”

Mabrey added to that, saying, “Right now I’m coming down from it. I’m really happy we won, but that wasn’t the national championship, so we’re hungry for more.

“I feel like it’s time for Notre Dame to get a national championship again.”

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