Mississippi State played 10 players in an overtime game, seven of them 13 or more minutes and two more over six minutes - that is depth and it wasn't specific to fouls. So they have a lot of bodies with pressure game experience. They are renowned for drawing offensive fouls so the Uconn emphasis on not having stupid offensive fouls is going to be important. They have quick guards with experience as well and they have fairly aggressive players at taking the ball to the rim, so defensive positioning, help, and not committing silly defensive fouls will also be important. While there bigs are slow, they do have a number of forwards with better speed and height similar to Collier, and Vic is not going to sit on his hands if they are having issues defensively because Collier and Williams are getting wide open mid range shots. They are not known for playing zone a lot, but they may have to and an aggressive zone might cause some issues for Uconn. Full court pressure is unlikely but showing a zone pressure to slow Uconn a little in crossing half court is certainly possible. And they did a pretty good job of keeping Baylor from running transition offense, and having been destroyed by Uconn transition offense last year, you have to believe that will be an emphasis this year - Vic complained that his team didn't listen about that concern last year - he has the tape to make his point this year!
Miss State has been known for being offensively challenge including leading up to this NCAA, but they are on a hot streak and have scored 110, 92, 75, and 94 points in the NCAA - not bad! (That last 94 included 19 in overtime so was 75 in regulation.) We scored 72 against Baylor early in the year but with Danger having the game of her short career with 19. Every game is different, but Baylor did not play badly in that Miss. State game.
Definitely are not the same teams from last year on either end of the floor. If Uconn plays really well we should win, but if some shots are not falling or we commit a few extra fouls ... Natalie could be big in this game and Kyla might find herself in a big pressure moment.
