Dallas — Let it be known that Carly Thibault, apparently very much at home as a Mississippi State assistant basketball coach, uses phrases now such as “y'all” and “ma'am.”

“That's what we try to teach our kids,” Thibault said of the use of “ma'am” as a pleasantry Thursday afternoon in the Bulldogs' locker room at the American Airlines Center.

Mississippi State (33-4) takes on four-time defending NCAA champion UConn (36-0) in the national semifinals at 10 p.m. Friday, with the winner going on to play for the championship Sunday.

Thibault, 25, a 2009 East Lyme High School graduate, is in her first season as the assistant for head coach Vic Schaefer's team.

“I like to call it good timing,” Thibault said. “I think whether I was here, they'd be here.”

Thibault's own family is, of course, in town for the game, mom and dad Nanci and Mike (coach of the WNBA's Washington Mystics, formerly of the Connecticut Sun) and brother Eric, as well as Carly's fiancee Blake DuDonis and his family. Also scheduled to attend are fellow East Lyme graduates and bridesmaids for her May 6 wedding, Jessica and Jackie Blodgett.

Thibault, however, said she has also found a family in Starkville, Miss., with this Mississippi State team, which is making its first Final Four appearance.

Mississippi State, the No. 2 seed in the Oklahoma City Regional, beat No. 1 Baylor in the regional final Sunday, 94-85 in overtime. Mississippi State started the season 20-0 before falling to fellow Southeastern Conference school and Final Four participant South Carolina.

“Coming to small-town Mississippi, I was going to need a family. I found a family here, plus 6,000 fans, 7,000 fans a game,” Thibault said. “(Schaefer) is a family man.”

Schaefer, meanwhile, called Thibault “wise beyond her years.” And that's coming from a guy who was a longtime assistant coach prior to taking the job in Starkville, including as part of the 2011 national championship team at Texas A&M.

“Her knowledge of the game is really off the chart,” Schaefer said of Thibault. “Her preparation skills are really off the chart.

“… I had a saying when I was an assistant. I wasn't paid to be wrong. I didn't ever want to be wrong to coach (Gary) Blair (at Texas A&M). So my assistants are the same way. That's what I want. That's what I need. Her work ethic, her attention to detail has been really pleasing for someone who is, quite frankly, as young as her and has not quite had the experience. But man, she is off the chart.”

Auriemma honored

UConn coach Geno Auriemma didn't know if there was a “best part” to coaching this year's UConn team. If it was it would have to be this:

“What is different is that since October to now, they've been something different,” Auriemma said of a team which lost perhaps the three best players in women's basketball after last season's fourth straight national title. “They're not anywhere near the team they were in October, November. This team has changed incredibly.”

Auriemma was named Thursday as the Associated Press Coach of the Year, earning the distinction for the ninth time. He was joined by Washington's Kelsey Plum, the AP Player of the Year, who established the NCAA's all-time scoring record this year with 3,498.

Auriemma received 26 of the 33 votes and Plum received 30. The 32nd-year UConn coach, Auriemma called this season “magnificent.”

“Some years you work really, really hard and it just doesn't work,” Auriemma said. “This is one of those years where the coaching staff, we worked really, really hard because we knew everything was different. And it still wouldn't have been possible to get this award if the players didn't work even harder than we did.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com