STARKVILLE — In Mississippi State’s Jan. 14 game at Auburn, the Tigers sank 11 of their 25 attempts from beyond the 3-point line.
Mississippi State didn’t make a single 3.
The Bulldogs’ next two opponents — Tennessee on Tuesday and Florida on Saturday — each made 10 triples in their wins over MSU at Humphrey Coliseum. Between the two games, Mississippi State made just 11 combined 3s, and not for lack of trying: The Bulldogs tried 43 of them.
“The 3-point line has become a problem for us,” MSU coach Chris Jans said after Saturday’s 61-59 loss to the Gators.
MSU is shooting just 24.8 percent from deep in Southeastern Conference play, part of the reason its 12-7 record includes just a 1-6 mark in conference competition. The Bulldogs’ overall 3-point shooting clip of 28.5 percent is 14th worst in all of Division I.
Without a roster of sharpshooters, Jans said he rarely expects to be winning the 3-point category, but the “discrepancy” he pointed out has been too large to ignore.
“We’re getting beat soundly at the 3-point line in terms of just old-school data — the number of points other teams are getting compared to the number of points we’re getting,” Jans said. “You can overcome that in different ways, but it seems to be a running theme with this year’s team in league play.”
The problem is twofold. On offense, only guard Dashawn Davis is hitting at a strong clip (an impressive 41.7 percent); the Bulldogs’ next-best shooter is redshirt freshman KeShawn Murphy (33.3 percent).
On defense, Jans has noticed problems with his team’s defensive rotations leading to missed assignments and clean looks.
“We’re just not contesting at a high level,” he said. “Our amount of uncontested 3s is alarming. Guys make open shots, for the most part, across the country, and we’re giving up too many of them.”
— Theo DeRosa
Finding balance and toughness
It’s a difficult business trying to compete at the highest level in any given sport, and with team sports in particular the business of management is complicated by ego. Coaches and players alike have to strike a balance of personality, responsibility, and control within a team or risk compromising on their ambition to compete.
This Mississippi State team has had to find that balance quickly, and even with the difficulty of dropping three straight heartbreakers, the Bulldogs have been able to bounce back and win three straight to get back above .500 in the SEC.
A 77-76 win over Kentucky was particularly challenging. After their difficulty maintaining their advantage over Auburn in the previous game, there were plenty of doubts when the Wildcats kept hitting shots, but a team that looked dysfunctional in the first quarter pulled themselves together. Experienced leaders like Ahlana Smith, Anastasia Hayes and Jessika Carter got the ball moving smoothly again, and most importantly stepped up in big moments down the stretch.
“You know what I learned this week? We’re tough,” head coach Sam Purcell said after the win over Kentucky. “All those things you’re talking about, adversity, starting early but then losing a lead, tonight they jumped on us early but we came back. That’s toughness. Adversity. We want something, we’re trying to go somewhere, but when adversity hits and you want something so bad, and you see it in front of you and feel like you’re going to be denied, you’ve got to be tough. And that’s what I felt this week, there’s a good juju in that locker room.”
Mississippi State’s team slogan “Why not us?” represents that toughness as well as its eagerness to be a contender now as well as two or three years down the line. It takes a special team to make that happen, but the Bulldogs know they have special players who are finding a way to make it happen together in big spots.
— Colin Damms
Smith’s struggles land him on bench late
Forward Tolu Smith has recorded double-doubles in each of Mississippi State’s past three games.
But his two most recent performances, particularly in Saturday’s loss to Florida, were worse than they looked in the box score.
After going just 4 of 11 from the field against Tennessee, Smith was 5 of 15 from the floor against the Gators.
“He’s just not being as efficient, in my opinion, as maybe he needs to be,” Jans said.
Smith was subbed out Saturday with 7:17 to play, and he never returned to the floor.
Instead, New Mexico State transfer Will McNair Jr. filled Smith’s role admirably. McNair finished the game with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting, going 3 for 3 in the second half.
Mississippi State still lost, but McNair was a plus-7 for the Bulldogs when he was on the court; Smith was a minus-9.
“The score was going in the right direction when Will was in the game,” Jans said Saturday.
Smith, a preseason first-team all-SEC pick, will likely get things figured out.
But for now, opponents seem to have him well sized up.
“Like every year, teams figure out how to play against certain guys, and I think that’s going on a little bit with Tolu,” Jans said.
— Theo DeRosa
Winning all four quarters
The Mississippi State women are 15-5 (4-3 in the Southeastern Conference) and looking up after a third straight win Sunday. They have a couple more road tests before a rematch with Tennessee in their next home game, but they have some defensive adjustments to make before the visit from the Vols.
In a Jan. 5 trip to Knoxville, MSU’s defense allowed a season-worst 80 points. Jordan Horston and former Bulldog Rickea Jackson kept the points rolling with a combined 45 points, taking advantage of a depleted MSU frontcourt. While the defense hasn’t quite been that bad again yet, lapses in concentration have started a worrying trend of letting teams take control or get back into the game through a big scoring quarter.
Against Ole Miss and Auburn, it was the third quarter (21 and 29 points respectively), against South Carolina it was the second quarter (20 points), and against Kentucky it was the fourth quarter (28 points). All of those defensive lapses put the game in jeopardy or outright lost the game for the Bulldogs, and it’s not a habit they can keep up if they want to continue their progress in SEC play.
The Bulldogs have a trip to Oxford up next, looking for payback Thursday against an Ole Miss team that handed them their first SEC loss earlier this month. The defensive 61-50 loss was a bit more of a wake-up call on offense at the time, but avoiding another big swing in momentum is a must. With the squad nearing a return to full health and the points flowing again, Mississippi State will have a bit more confidence.
— Colin Damms
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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