Mississippi State women's basketball headed to Oklahoma for Big 12/SEC Challenge

Stefan Krajisnik, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
·2 min read

Dec. 3—Mississippi State women's basketball (6-1) hits the road to take on Oklahoma at 2 p.m. Saturday as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

Who's the player to worth keeping an eye on? It's Mississippi State's Rickea Jackson.

Jackson is coming off a career-high 40 points in MSU's resounding 102-55 win against McNeese State on Wednesday.

Her scoring average is up to 23 points per game following that performance. Jackson has scored in double figures in all five games she has played this season while scoring 20-plus three times.

Interim head coach Doug Novak said in his offense, the ball will naturally find the best players if they're patient and willing to share.

Whether there is a conscious effort or not, the ball is finding its way to Jackson — as it should for the All-SEC preseason selection.

"Sometimes when you're a good player...you're used to only getting the ball and not giving it up," Novak said postgame Wednesday. "Sometimes you have to give it up and trust that the team is gonna get it back to the hot hand or the best matchup or what the game is telling you."

Oklahoma (6-1) has a potent scoring threat of its own in guard Taylor Robertson.

Robertson is scoring 19 points per game this season while shooting 47 percent from the field. She scored a season-high 29 points — her career-high 31 came two seasons ago — in a five-point loss against No. 18 Oregon a couple weeks ago.

Robertson's play is indicative of what Oklahoma can do on the offensive side.

The Sooners are averaging 87 points per game — good for fifth in the nation.

Oklahoma's offensive success comes from its ability to shoot from range. The Sooners shoot 33.5 percent from deep and make nearly 11 3-pointers per game.

"They like to run," Novak said.

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This will also serve as MSU's first true road test. The Bulldogs went 1-1 when they played in the Daytona Beach Challenge last week.

But the environment Novak expects Saturday combined with the energy of Oklahoma's offense will give MSU a tough task.

"When you're on the road, your conversion defense is everything just because of the excitement, the energy in someone else's gym," Novak said.

STEFAN KRAJISNIK is the Mississippi State athletics reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at stefan.krajisnik@djournal.com.