At the very least, Mississippi State has more depth in the backcourt than it did a year ago, even if the Bulldogs don’t currently have quite as many options as they anticipated when the season began. Dashawn Davis held down one of MSU’s starting spots last year, with Eric Reed Jr. giving way to Shakeel Moore at the other.
Head coach Chris Jans brought in reinforcements over the offseason, adding the state of Mississippi’s all-time leading high school scorer in Josh Hubbard as well as transfers Trey Fort and Andrew Taylor. But with Taylor having missed the last six games due to a personal matter, the Bulldogs (12-4, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) have employed a four-guard rotation so far in SEC play.
Fort, a transfer from Tennessee-Martin by way of Copiah-Lincoln Community College, started MSU’s first seven games, the first two of which were due in part to Moore serving a team-issued suspension. He broke out with 21 points on 5-for-10 shooting from 3-point range in 33 minutes in MSU’s season-opening win over Arizona State.
But as Fort’s production dipped, so did his playing time. Shawn Jones Jr. made his first collegiate start on Dec. 3 against Southern, and since then, Moore has been Davis’ starting backcourt partner. Fort has begun to adjust to his bench role, knocking down two of his four 3-point attempts in 12 minutes during Saturday night’s loss to Alabama, and he was one of just two Bulldogs with a positive plus/minus.
“We were excited about the prospect of him being able to help us as we got into conference play, and you saw some of that against Alabama,” Jans said. “Defensively, he’s still a work in progress like a lot of our guys are, but he’s gotten a lot better on that end. He can provide a spark for us. It gives us another scorer on the floor, another guy who can stretch the defense and give us more room to operate around the paint.”
Hubbard, who earned his second SEC Freshman of the Week award Monday, has emerged as the primary outside shooting threat that MSU so sorely missed last year. He has played an average of 23 minutes per game off the bench and pairs well with any of the Bulldogs’ other guards.
Moore, too, has made big strides in a positive direction, playing a season-high 29 minutes against the Crimson Tide and finishing with 13 points on 6-for-10 from the field. Jans said he planned to talk with Moore on Monday about how he was able to get to a good place mentally.
“He looked different at shootaround. His demeanor, his facial expressions, his focus throughout the afternoon, and then when we were getting ready in our meetings and talks before we hit the floor for the opening take, he just had a different look to him,” Jans said. “That’s a place he needs to find each and every day, each and every outing for him to play at his best.”
Davis, meanwhile, has seen his numbers dip considerably of late. He did not record a point or a rebound against Alabama and played just 18 minutes, sitting on the bench for the final 12 minutes and 40 seconds. It’s a foreign role for the New Yorker who transferred to MSU in 2022 from Oregon State, where he led the Pac-12 in assists in the 2021-22 season.
Getting Davis back on track will be critical for the Bulldogs as their demanding schedule continues Wednesday night at No. 8 Kentucky.
“He just needs to play better,” Jans said. “He didn’t play very well against Alabama in the minutes that he had. He’s usually in the game at the end of the game, especially when it’s tight. He’s earned that right because of his productivity… but he’s just not playing at the level we feel like he’s capable of playing. Since conference play has begun, for us to be our best, he has to be more productive on both ends of the floor.”
Scouting Kentucky
The Wildcats, now in their 15th season under John Calipari, had a down year by their standards last season, finishing third in the SEC and falling in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. But Kentucky (12-3, 2-1) is again a force to be reckoned with this year, ranking third nationally with 90.8 points per game.
Calipari’s team leads the SEC in field goal percentage (.493), turns the ball over at the lowest rate in the conference (9.7 per game) and is second in 3-point percentage and assists. Antonio Reeves, last season’s SEC Sixth Man of the Year, has become a starter and averages 18.9 points per game, shooting 42.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Kentucky’s bench is among the most productive in all of college basketball, with freshmen Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard both averaging double-digit scoring in non-starting roles. D.J. Wagner, another freshman, chips in nearly 13 points per contest, while Tre Mitchell — playing for his fourth school in five years — controls the post with 12.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. Sheppard also leads the conference in steals per game with 2.5.
“They don’t play like freshmen. They seem very seasoned already,” Jans said. “They’re very high-octane on offense, similar to Alabama in terms of their transition baskets and their ability to get downhill. (They have) multiple playmakers on the floor at one time, and then they shoot the ball really well, much better than last year’s team.”
The Wildcats had an uncharacteristic loss to UNC-Wilmington in non-conference play, but they also beat a North Carolina team that has since ascended to the top five in the AP poll. Kentucky edged Florida on the road in its SEC opener, then got past Missouri at home before being upset on Saturday in overtime at Texas A&M.
Jans is fully aware that a top-10 team coming off a loss in its 20,000-plus capacity arena could be a dangerous proposition for his team.
“I wasn’t rooting for that outcome, to be honest. (The Wildcats’ loss to the Aggies) wasn’t ideal for us, but that’s just the way it goes,” Jans said. “I’m sure their staff is rallying them up right now to try to defend their home court, but Wednesday night when they tip the ball, those outcomes will have no relevance to the game we’re going to play.”
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