STARKVILLE — Rick Ray needed something to help his team regain its balance.
The second-year Mississippi State men’s basketball head coach found the teaching tool he needed Saturday in an 87-68 loss to Utah State in Logan, Utah. The loss gave Ray tangible examples he could show his players to convince them their effort on defense to start the season wasn’t acceptable.
“Our guys needed that competition,” Ray said Tuesday. “They needed to get humbled a little bit because they were starting to build themselves a little bit too much.”
Despite being concerned with the defensive execution in his team’s first three victories, Ray had a feeling his players wouldn’t buy in to what the coaches were telling them about their defense and their inability to get a stop against a good team until they lost a game. Once Utah State hit 11 3-pointers and led from start to finish at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, Ray knew his players wouldn’t be able to offer excuses for not focusing on improving their defense.
“The way the rules have changed and they’re calling fouls and me being cautious about our depth, especially on the front line, it’s taken away a little bit of our aggressiveness and allowed us not to be as good a defensive team as we were last year,” said Ray, whose team will play host to Jackson State at 1 p.m. today at Humphrey Coliseum. “But we need to find a happy medium.”
MSU (3-1) has the worst field goal percentage defense in the Southeastern Conference (45.9 percent). Arkansas is 13th at 42.9 percent. Opponents are shooting so well against MSU because it has had trouble containing dribble penetration, which has resulted in numerous shots in the lane.
“Those are two things we need to work on,” Ray said. “Offensively we’re fine. We’ll figure that out. But defensively, I’m a little worried where the team is.”
MSU entered the game against Utah State having allowed only 13 3-pointers. Jackson State (2-4) may be able to provide a similar test. It comes into the game eighth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in scoring (66.5 points per game), field goal percentage (40.7 percent), and 3-point field goal percentage (33.7).
On Saturday, MSU sophomore center Gavin Ware had third double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. He is nearly doubling his scoring and rebounding averages from last season, recording more than 16 points and 11 rebounds per game. Colin Borchert and Craig Sword are averaging 12.8 and 10 ppg., respectively.
“The thing about Gavin is people are starting to game plan against him, and I think our guys are doing a good job of finding him in the post,” Ray said. “I still think we need to look and probe for more of Gavin, but now there’s tape and evidence that he’s a double-double threat in the post. Gavin hasn’t had to beat double teams all that often because he’s done a good job of sealing when he posts.”
JSU snapped a two-game losing streak Friday with a 68-64 win at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Julysses Nobles and Brandon West paced the Tigers with 17 points apiece. Nobles leads JSU in scoring and assists with 15.8 points and 3.8 assists per game. A transfer from Arkansas, Nobles scored 24 points against MSU in January 2012 when he was with the Razorbacks.
MSU is 4-0 all-time against JSU. It earned an 81-67 victory in the last meeting in the opening round of the 2010 National Invitation Tournament.
MSU will play host Loyola at noon Sunday. The game will honor the historic “Game of Change” the schools played in the 1963 NCAA tournament.
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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