STARKVILLE — The pair of teams arriving to Humphrey Coliseum are coming off their best performances in the Southeastern Conference.
Mississippi State (19-5, 6-3 in SEC play) will be less than 48 hours removed from an impressive 70-60 victory over in-state rival Ole Miss in a contest where the Bulldogs were up by as many as 18 in the second half.
“We have to come out and play that way every game now,” MSU senior point guard Dee Bost said. “Against Auburn I don’t think we played with the same emotion and gave up too many points.”
One of the keys to the victory in the return game against the Rebels was MSU’s two-guard combination of senior Brian Bryant and Jalen Steele holding Ole Miss scoring threat Nick Williams without a single point through 27 minutes of action.
Williams, who came into the contest as Ole Miss’ leading scoter in SEC play, ended the evening 0-for-6 from the field and without a foul shot turning the transfer from the University of Indiana into primarily a failed jump shooter.
“I thought defensively we did a great job helping each other,” MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. “This time of year, you have to get it to that level because it’s hard to maintain it.”
This perimeter defensive effort will be a necessity again this afternoon when Georgia comes to Starkville (12:47, SEC Network) due to the only consistent points coming from Mark Fox’s squad this season being from the guard duo of Gerald Robinson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Despite being 320th in the country in scoring at just over 60 points per game, Georgia (11-12, 2-7) showed signs of being able to play a complete basketball game in their 81-59 home victory over Arkansas Wednesday.
“Georgia counts the same as Ole Miss — because that’s the kind of emotion we have to play with all the time,” Stansbury said. ” They can shoot it from everywhere and they’ll come in here playing loose that’s for sure.”
It was the first time Georgia had topped the 70-point total in a SEC game and had been held under 60 twice last month. Against an aggressive Razorbacks defense that feature multiple looks and even showcased an healthy dose of full court press, Georgia shot 52.6 percent from the floor and connected on 9-of-20 from beyond the three-point arc.
Lack of depth may not be as much of a concern for MSU in the back half of a Thursday-Saturday turnaround because Georgia is only rolling with a eight-man rotation and had their veteran guards, including senior Dustin Ware, all play at least 34 minutes against Arkansas Wednesday.
Since 2009-10 season when the SEC created the new television contract with ESPN, MSU is one of two teams, along with Florida, who have a winning record with less time to prepare than its opponent as the Bulldogs have posted an impressive 7-1 record in that situation.
Bost’s career-high 13 assists Thursday were critical to the home victory as the senior point guard was able to get to lane that led to baskets by the Bulldogs dominating frontcourt of Arnett Moultrie and Renardo Sidney. It’s likely to be the game plan again as MSU will most certainly target the inexperience of Georgia’s frontcourt that have failed to find replacements for 2011 NBA draft picks Travis Leslie and Trey Thompkins.
“I had a stretch where I played bad for about five games and I’ve really lately worried about my shot selection,” Bost said. “When I (play unselfishly), we win so I really tried to do that the last couple of times out.”
Thursday night marked the first double-double of the season for the normally shoot-first point guard but in his career MSU is 4-1 when Bost accomplishes the feat.
“Our kids were aware of some things that was said but let’s just stay focused and let our talking be between the lines,” Stansbury said of his pre-game message to the team. “I thought Dee did a great job of that. We did a couple things a little different tonight to help him at times.”
MSU will most likely be without the services of freshman point guard DeVille Smith after the 5-foot-10 guard has missed the last five games due to bouts of headaches and dizziness earlier last month.
“He is not a thought in what we’re doing right now and not in our game plan,” Stansbury said. “We’re just trying to get him going again whenever we can.”
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