STARKVILLE — Mississippi State has tweaked its defense on a few occasions this month, and most of the changes have been effective.
During a midweek bye following a blowout home loss to Missouri, the Bulldogs worked on shifting some of their coverages and responded with a hard-fought road win over Georgia. MSU lost its next game against Florida, but then made a few more changes and proceeded to win back-to-back games over ranked opponents in Ole Miss and Texas A&M. Since then, however, the Bulldogs’ woes have resurfaced, particularly in terms of defending the perimeter.
Oklahoma was 7-for-13 from behind the arc in its upset of MSU last Saturday. Three nights later, No. 6 Alabama, which relies on the 3-pointer as much as any team in the country, made 22 of them and put up 111 points in a complete thrashing of the No. 24 Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa.
“We did tweak some things defensively that, for a couple games, it helped us in terms of number of attempts (and) in terms of efficiency by the other teams,” MSU head coach Chris Jans said. “Then obviously here in the last game, it didn’t work. A lot of that has to do with who we played and their style of play and where we played it at.”
The Bulldogs (19-9, 7-8 Southeastern Conference) used a small-ball lineup late in the first half in the game in Oxford, with both Michael Nwoko and KeShawn Murphy on the bench and Cameron Matthews at the five. MSU also went to a zone defense for a time in that game and returned to it in the second half against the Crimson Tide, but by that point the score was already out of hand.
Jans credited Alabama’s offensive flow with point guard Mark Sears in command. Sears is second in the SEC in both points and assists per game, and his 10 assists against the Bulldogs were his second-most in a game this season. Josh Hubbard committed his second foul less than seven minutes into the game, and even though he sat out for just three and a half minutes, he was wary of picking up a third foul, allowing Sears to get the better of him.
“We’re not happy, obviously, with the outcome or with how it went down, but a lot of it had to do with how well they played and how well they shot the ball, how well they moved the ball,” Jans said. “The first seven, eight minutes of the game unfolded how we needed it to unfold, other than getting some guys into some foul issues. Then it just changed, and we could never get any momentum back. We could never slow them down.”
Scouting LSU
After playing 10 of its last 13 games against ranked teams, MSU enters the final three-game stretch of the regular season against teams outside the AP Top 25. It starts Saturday at Humphrey Coliseum against the Tigers (14-14, 3-12), who have played better lately than their record indicates.
LSU was competitive in a six-point loss Tuesday to No. 5 Tennessee, and on Feb. 15 the Tigers did what the Bulldogs could not by winning at Oklahoma. This could be exactly the matchup MSU needs, though — LSU shoots just 31.4% from 3-point range, ahead of only the Bulldogs and Texas A&M among SEC teams.
“They have a nice combination of what you would like in a team. They have a guard who can really score the ball with Cam Carter and his ability to just go get buckets in a variety of ways,” Jans said. “They’re improving. Watching the tape, they’ve improved with their skill set as the season has progressed. They have wings who can slash and shoot and run the court.”
Carter played at MSU as a freshman in 2021-22, the year before Jans arrived in Starkville. He then spent the last two seasons at Kansas State, where he became a starter, before returning to his home state and the SEC for his senior year. He leads the Tigers with 16.7 points per game and is their top outside threat, shooting 39% from deep. Backcourt mate Jordan Sears is LSU’s second-leading scorer, averaging 11.8 points.
The Tigers lost seven straight games between mid-January and mid-February and went a full month between wins, but have split their last four contests and should be well rested, coming off three home games in a row.
“Their record isn’t what they would like it to be, but I’m just impressed with how they’ve continued to compete at the highest level,” Jans said. “They’re in games. Even the ones they’re losing, they’re having opportunities to win. Their record could easily be different than it is right now. I can’t imagine they’re not going to be here Saturday at 2:30 raring to go. We just have to get our guys ready to go as well.”
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