Longstanding basketball fans may need no introduction to a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. But I have to admit I knew little about Nikki McCray-Penson when she became the front runner to replace Vic Schaefer at Mississippi State.
I knew her as a star player at Tennessee before playing nine seasons in the WNBA. She has more SEC Player of the Year awards than the rest of the league combined, winning the award in 1994 and 1995. For all of the talent that passed through Knoxville over the years, she and Chamique Holdsclaw remain the only Lady Vols to win the honor in back-to-back seasons. Not surprisingly, McCray-Penson was also a first-team All-American in each of those seasons for the late Pat Summitt.
As a coach, McCray-Penson first built a solid reputation as an assistant with Dawn Staley at South Carolina. Over the nine years they spent together in Columbia, Staley and McCray-Penson brought home four SEC regular season championships, three conference tournament titles and the 2017 national title. She was the head coach the last three seasons at Old Dominion.
Now she finds herself trying to maintain the level of excellence that Schaefer built in Starkville. And she sounds like she’s ready for the challenge.
“This is a national brand with incredible people, a storied tradition and an outstanding community that is second to none,” McCray-Penson said. “I am confident that my experiences as a coach and player have prepared me for this, and I will pour everything I have into our student-athletes and program.”
It appears McCray-Penson, like her predeceaser, loves to play hard-nosed defense. I like the sound of that.
At Old Dominion, where her team finished 24-6 this past season, her team held opponents to a 35.3 shooting percentage, 24.3 percent from beyond the 3-point line. For comparison sake, Mississippi State opponents shot 39.3 and 31.7 percent last season.
She understands how important defense is.
“I didn’t make the Olympic team because I scored points; I made it because I could play defense,” she said. “That’s desire, and that’s what our kids are going to have. They’re not going to back down from a challenge. I never back down from a challenge.”
While there were initially concerns that MSU might undergo a staunch roster overturn should administrators not hire former associate head coach Johnnie Harris, those issues were seemingly quelled in recent days, as numerous members of this year’s squad tweeted excitement at McCray-Penson’s hiring.
Most notably, it was the backing of all-SEC second-team honorees Rickea Jackson and Jessika Carter that stands to be the most important coup of all.
Jackson should enter next season on the shortlist for SEC and national player of the year honors after she averaged 15.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last season — including six 20-point games in her final 12 contests.
A future WNBA-type talent, Jackson will be expected to take another step forward in her sophomore campaign.
Carter’s buy-in is also a welcome addition after she watched her minutes increase from 10.8 to 28.8 per game from her freshman to sophomore season. Granted, MSU could stand to see her time on the floor decrease slightly with another post presence, but the Georgia product was a revelation of sorts as she averaged 13 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in a starring role this past year.
nContact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow on Twitter:@Bill_Burrus.
