Denae Carter Ready To Roll In StarkVegas
November 06, 2022 | Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE – Sam Purcell's first meeting with Denae Carter back in March told him everything he needed to know about her character.
Upon being hired as Mississippi State's new women's basketball coach, Purcell made it a point to get to know his players on a personal level. Whenever his conversation with Carter eventually shifted to basketball though, Purcell noticed a little bit of hesitation from his promising sophomore.
"I was wondering if I was about to lose her," Purcell said. "But she said 'Listen, I'm a team player and will play hard but if there's a chance, can you recruit some taller players so I don't have to play the five position? I just laughed and told her if she had to play the five position here then I'd probably have to resign. I promised her we were going to get in the portal and get some taller players and the rest took care of itself."
The reason for Carter's concern stemmed from a freshman campaign that forced her into becoming the Bulldogs' starting center despite being only an even 6-foot tall. But despite the size differential that sometimes had her guarding opponents five inches taller in the paint, Carter excelled and led the team with 40 blocked shots and averaged 8.1 rebounds per game.
"It definitely helped my confidence and showed me that there is so much more to the game than just scoring that a team needs," Carter said. "I'm a rebounder and a shot blocker and I was happy that I was able to do those little things for the team last year."
Those little things Carter did while playing out of position earned her two SEC Freshman of the Week honors as well as a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania product produced 6.1 points, 2.1 blocks and one steal per game in addition to her team-leading rebounding average.
Carter recorded four double-doubles last season including a stretch between Dec. 18-20 in which she notched three straight. She also blocked a shot in 17 of her 19 games and was leading all freshmen nationally in blocks before everything came to a screeching halt on Jan. 30.
Midway through the third quarter against Texas A&M, Carter tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee which immediately ended her season. Despite missing the final 10 games, she finished with 154 rebounds – only seven shy of the team lead.
Carter underwent successful surgery on Feb. 4 and has worked her way back onto the court thanks to a rigorous and thorough rehab plan by strength and conditioning coach Kaiti Jones and her staff.
"They've done an amazing job," Carter said. "Kaiti has told me the importance of every workout that we've done and how it'll help strengthen my knee. She's really helped me regain all the strength that I had and even build more confidence. She's also helped my left leg as well to prevent further injuries."
Carter admitted to being a little apprehensive when it was time for her to start drills where she suddenly changed directions, but Jones' assurance quickly helped her regain trust in her right knee.
"It was definitely scary at first," Carter said. "But Kaiti has taught me not to be scared. She's thrown me out there and given me exercises that are strictly for my right leg."
Thanks to Carter's hard work and the efforts of the training staff, she is on track to play in the Bulldogs' season opener against Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday.
"I'm really excited just to be back at full speed and compete with my team again," Carter said.
The plan right now is to ease Carter back onto the court and progressively increase her minutes at her own pace.
"She proved last year how special she can be," Purcell said. "I told her that I didn't want to put a number out there for her because she's recovering from an injury that she's never gone through. I told her I wanted her to just focus on having a fun year and not focus on the numbers. She's going to get there, but I don't want her to have a timetable. If I can make sure she's happy, playing within herself and playing the way that she can, then the numbers will take care of themselves."
And when Carter does return to the court this week, she will do so at her natural power forward position. However, she plans to take the lessons she learned playing in the post last year and be more physical.
"I'm glad I got to play the five last year because I was able to bring my physicality out a little bit," Carter said. "We work a lot on boxing out and rebounding at the four position as well so doing all of that last year really helped me."
