STARKVILLE — KeShawn Murphy, who last played in Mississippi State’s Southeastern Conference opener at South Carolina on Jan. 6, was back on the Bulldogs’ bench for Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt, but head coach Chris Jans said Monday that there is no target date for the redshirt sophomore forward to return to action.
MSU always has either Tolu Smith or Jimmy Bell Jr. on the floor, but if the Bulldogs (13-5, 2-3 SEC) want to go with a bigger lineup — or when D.J. Jeffries and Cameron Matthews need rest — Jans and company do not have many options.
Junior Jaquan Scott, a transfer from Salt Lake Community College in Utah, played a season-high 12 minutes in the season opener against Arizona State, when Murphy was out with an injury. He scored six points in an 11-minute appearance against Tulane on Dec. 9, but in a five-game stretch from Dec. 17 to Jan. 10, Scott only saw the floor in garbage time of a blowout win over Bethune-Cookman.
With Murphy out due to a personal matter, though, Scott played seven minutes against Alabama on Jan. 13, then saw three minutes of action in the first half against Kentucky last Wednesday. He did manage a rebound, a block and a steal against the Crimson Tide.
“Jaquan has been inconsistent, but he’s a live body. He’s physical,” Jans said. “He fits the way we want to play, and he knows what he needs to do. He just has to be a little more consistent in practice with being on the same page with what we’re trying to do all the time. … He’ll have more opportunities. He just has to be ready for them and take advantage of them and prove to all of us that he can be consistent with his play and productivity.”
Freshman Gai Chol, meanwhile, is a true center like Smith and Bell, and has not seen the court since SEC play began with Smith back from his foot injury. Jans said Chol has continued to work hard and understands that his time will come — Smith and Bell, after all, are both in their final year of eligibility — and he dominated for a stretch during an intrasquad scrimmage in practice last Friday.
“He was scoring, he was blocking shots, he was running the floor,” Jans said. “I know he’s capable, I know he wants more, I know he’s trying to prepare himself every day for anything that comes his way. Who knows how the season will unfold, but what I love about him is he’s a worker, he’s a great person, he’s got the right approach every single day.”
Scouting Florida
Coming off a much-needed win over the last-place Commodores, MSU hits the road again Wednesday to battle Florida (12-6, 2-3). With the Gators currently at No. 45 in the NET rankings, five spots below the Bulldogs, this would be a Quadrant 1 win if MSU is able to get it. The Bulldogs’ only such win so far was their upset of No. 5 Tennessee earlier this month.
Despite all of MSU’s success in neutral-site games in non-conference play, the Bulldogs have yet to win a true road game, falling at Georgia Tech in the ACC/SEC Challenge and at South Carolina and Kentucky in SEC play.
“We talk a lot about what’s required to win on the road,” Jans said. “If you want to be considered a high-level team, a tough team, you have to go into tough environments and stay together and figure out a way to play well enough to win.”
Florida’s offense is among the SEC’s best. The Gators have five players averaging more than 10 points per game, and their team scoring average of 84.8 is third in the conference behind Kentucky and Alabama. Head coach Todd Golden’s team does most of that scoring without relying on the 3-pointer, ranking in the bottom half of the SEC in both 3-point attempts and percentage.
The Gators are the best rebounding team in all of men’s college basketball, pulling down nearly 45 boards per game, so Smith and Bell will have their work cut out for them on the glass. Florida’s defense has been an issue, as only Kentucky and Arkansas have allowed more points per contest among SEC teams than the Gators.
“They had excellent guard play last year and they do again this year,” Jans said. “They have more weapons out front than they had last year. They have a glutton of guards, a bunch of guys who are big, strong, powerful downhill guys.”
Iona transfer Walter Clayton Jr. leads Florida with 15.8 points per game, with point guard Zyon Pullin, a grad transfer from California-Riverside, averaging 14.6 points while leading the team in assists. Another grad transfer, Tyrese Samuel from Seton Hall, spearheads the Gators’ rebounding machine along with Micah Handlogten, a sophomore transfer from Marshall, and Australian freshman Alex Condon.
Florida also has a pair of boom-or-bust guards in Riley Kugel and Will Richard, both holdovers from last year. Kugel has four 20-plus point games but has been held to five points or fewer on six occasions.
“The thing that’s changed for them, in my opinion, is their size,” Jans said. “That’s the biggest difference in them, is the quality of depth they have at the rim with the rebounding and the rim protection and the bodies, along with the guards who can really space the floor and play off one another.”
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