How Mississippi State's backcourt defies current trends in college basketball

STARKVILLE – In an era in which the way basketball is played changes daily, Mississippi State’s backcourt hasn’t budged. Seniors Jazzmun Holmes and Jordan Danberry are old-school ballers — and they’re just fine with that.

When Holmes and Danberry line up across from the Missouri Tigers (18-7, 7-4 SEC) on Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum, their counterparts might not look much different in stature. But their stat sheets sure are quite the contrast.

Missouri redshirt senior point guard Lauren Aldridge has attempted 103 3-pointers this season. Mississippi State’s senior point guard, Holmes, has attempted five.

Missouri junior shooting guard Jordan Roundtree has attempted 38 3-pointers this season. Mississippi State’s senior shooting guard, Danberry, has attempted three.

The duo of Holmes and Danberry still averages more than double the number of points as Mizzou’s – 21.1 points per game to 10.2. The Mississippi State (22-1, 10-0 SEC) pair does it with high basketball intelligence and track-level speed.

Danberry was an all-state performer in high school on the track in her home state of Arkansas. She can beat just about any defender off the dribble. Holmes was a standout for Harrison Central High School in the long jump and 400-meter dash.  

“You’re looking at the two fastest players I’ve ever coached,” Schaefer said as he sat between the two during a media availability Tuesday afternoon. “I thought Morgan (William) was really fast, and she was, but Jazz is faster. Jo, Jo is explosive to me. I don’t know if I’ve seen a more explosive player when it comes to being able to get to her spot.”

In addition to being one of the fastest players Schaefer has ever seen, Holmes might be one of the smartest too. She has the highest assist-to-turnover ratio in the nation at 4.58. She doesn’t make mistakes.

Interestingly, Holmes isn’t actively aware of that astounding statistic. She said she just goes out and plays her game without worrying about numbers. Of all her qualities — speed, intelligence, patience, etc. — unselfishness might be the most important one.  

“I like passing more than I like scoring just because I like my teammates being successful,” Holmes said.

Schaefer has seen Holmes and Danberry knock threes down with consistency in practices. He said Danberry finishes shootarounds the night before a game day the same way every time — by burying 3-pointers in the corner.

Even if she shot a decent amount of threes every game, odds are she wouldn’t have as high of a percentage than sophomore Chloe Bibby did from back there. Bibby finished the season as a 45-percent 3-point shooter. That’s an elite rate, but it’s not as efficient as Danberry is from inside the arc.

Danberry has an overall shooting percentage of 51.2 this season. That’s extremely high for a shooting guard, but it hasn’t been hard for Danberry to shoot at that clip. She uses her speed to burn defenders and get quality looks in the paint.

“I think she’s smart enough and knows, ‘Hey, I don’t have to settle out here. Why settle?” Schaefer said. “She can go get a higher percentage shot.”

Danberry said her effectiveness on offense has come by simply reading opposing defenses. Even when her defender is sagging off her because she knows Danberry isn’t likely to attempt long-distance shots, Danberry knows how to get around her.

Schaefer says often that having Danberry on the court with Holmes is like having two point guards on the court at the same time. That allows Holmes to take occasional breaks from being the floor general while also allowing Danberry to operate as the primary ball-handler, which is when she’s able to create looks for herself.

“He’s always talking to me as much as Jazz about taking care of the ball,” Danberry said. “As a senior and as another point guard on the floor, I know it’s beneficial to Jazz to have another person to bring the ball up and not always have to run the team all the time.”

Schaefer described the dynamic between Holmes and Danberry as “unique.” It’s not often at any level of basketball in this age to have a starting backcourt that has combined to take less than 10 3-pointers in 23 games.

It’s also not often a backcourt in women’s college basketball has the speed and on-ball capabilities of Holmes and Danberry.

“When you have two players like this on the perimeter, it creates some things for us offensively that are really hard to deal with defensively,” Schaefer said.

More:Mississippi State throttles Tennessee with offensive outburst in fourth quarter

Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter.