Before Macy Miller set records at South Dakota State, one of the biggest games of her career came in seventh grade. It was 2008, and Miller played in the big-four championship. For whatever reason, it looked like she’d cry.

“Geez,” said Wes Morgan, Miller’s then-future high school coach, “Mace is struggling a little bit.” Sitting next to him, Miller’s father, Alan, didn’t care. Miller never shows emotion. That was not the time to do so.

“Are you going to cry or are you going to make a play?” he yelled. Miller sneered. On the final possession of the game, she swiped a steal at the top of the key, dribbled down to the other end of the court and finished a left-handed layup as the buzzer sounded.

After the game, though, she still wasn’t right. She registered a 104-degree fever, and Alan took her to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with double pneumonia.

“Maybe ‘Dad’ was a little hard on her,” Alan joked on Sunday.

Since then, she’s torn anterior cruciate ligaments in both knees, rehabbed twice and established an aspect of “patience,” Alan said, in her game that for many years she didn’t have. It’s a skill many around her believe will lead to a future in the WNBA. This season, she set both SDSU and Summit League records for career points and when the No. 6-seed Jackrabbits meet No. 3-seed Syracuse (25-8, 11-5 Atlantic Coast) in the NCAA tournament round of 32, she will give South Dakota State (27-6, 15-1 Summit) its best chance to knock off the higher-seeded Orange.

“Syracuse is a very well-run team, they’re a great team,” Miller said. “I feel like if we play our game like we have been this whole postseason, I think our name will get out there. “

Miller’s game has long been predicated on explosion. At Mitchell (South Dakota) High School, Miller ran faster than opponents and excelled through contact. Though she’d worked on form shooting since she was young, none of the drills moved her further than 15 feet from the basket. She took very few 3-pointers in high school. Alan only remembered 18 attempts in her career. She found much of her offense through straight-line drives to the rim and in the mid range.

Then, in an AAU game right after her freshman season, she jump-stopped and collapsed. The first major injury of Miller’s career was a torn left ACL on July 31. She got surgery at Orthopedic Institute Sioux Falls from Dr. Peter Looby and rehabbed for four months with Brad Pfeifle, the VP of sports medicine and rehab services at the institute.

When she returned for practices by early December, she brought an agility ladder for conditioning drills well after practice ended, Morgan said. The cousin of former Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzlies player Mike Miller, who now coaches with the Memphis Tigers, she continued to do drills he took home with him from his NBA ventures even if she was too young or not strong enough to do them. More and more it frustrated her, but she hardly would mention her injury: “I’ll just come back stronger,” she’d say to Mike.

“The way she took it,” Mike said, “it was almost an inspiration to me.”

When she arrived at South Dakota State, she came with a similar slashing style. She got to the rim, put her body into the chest of defenders and finished over them. But it was her mid-range game that set her apart. In her first matchup with Western Illinois her freshman season, Miller scored 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting while adding six points at the free throw line. WIU head coach JD Gravina turned to his coaches on the bench midway through the game. “I want you guys to recruit me a freshman like that,” Alan remembered he said.

The Jackrabbits won two-straight Summit League championships and earned consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament. In her sophomore year, No. 13-seed South Dakota State met No. 4-seed Stanford in the first round. With the ball in her hands in the final seconds, Miller got a step on her defender and took the ball to the rim. But her potential game-winning shot was blocked. After the game, her family and coaches pleaded that she can’t play the game at one speed. That play stuck with her and she worked on a step-back move to find open space.

But in the ninth game of her junior season, another jump-stop caused a tear in her right ACL, ending her junior season. The process began again: rehabbing with bungee cords on her knee, resting, conditioning. She worked with her point guard coach on her 3-point shooting, who showed her how to quicken her release. She asked question to her sharp-shooting cousin Mike and practiced with her family in the driveway.

Now, rather than looking for contact, she finds open spaces and takes open shots. She rarely “forces” a shot, and now is a consistent threat from all three levels of the frontcourt.

“One of the great things about Macy is that she doesn’t have to play the point,” South Dakota State head coach Aaron Johnston said. “We want her there, and she’s really good there, but we can take her off of there so she doesn’t always handle that kind of pressure and pace at that position.”

Alan, Mike and coaches all saw the improvement. Her 3-point shot became a “weapon.” Mike had watched her online since she was playing in high school championships, and now he brags about Miller “more than anything else.” Miller said that Syracuse’s press will try to speed up her game and get her off balance. But she hasn’t played that way for a while.

In the Jackrabbits round of 64 matchup with Quinnipiac, the ball was once again in the hands of Miller. South Dakota State led the Bobcats by five points and Miller held the ball at the top of the key. Alan said defenders hadn’t closed out until recently on her 3-point shot. The drive was always the biggest threat. But with 1:30 remaining, she took a step back and fired.

“If Syracuse gives her an opportunity to kill,” Mike said, “she’s going to kill.”

Published on March 25, 2019 at 1:32 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary