STARKVILLE — We”re talking about practice.
Not the game, practice.
At least that”s what Rick Stansbury is thinking about as his team has five days off before facing Georgia on the road Saturday.
Stansbury has stressed the importance of improving through practice as his team is currently in its “second season” since getting Dee Bost and Renardo Sidney back on a full-time basis.
And even though the Bulldogs (10-7, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) are on a two-game winning streak and appear to have Bost and Sidney on a steady track to consistent productivity, Stansbury admits his team is fighting time in preparing for the likes of UGA, Florida and Vanderbilt, which they”ll face to round out the month.
During Monday”s SEC coaches” teleconference, Stansbury was asked about his interior defense and responded with a laundry list of areas in which to improve.
“When we talk as a staff and start making a checklist of things you want to go down, you check off everything,” Stansbury said. “You can check off halfcourt offense. You can check off halfcourt defense. We need to be a little bit better and find ways to extend the defense. We need to rebound the basketball better.”
Those are all areas coaches hope to address during non-conference play, but the unavailability of Bost and Sidney forced mismatched lineups and didn”t prepare the rest of the team for the added dimensions of its starting point guard and most skilled post player.
With two games each week, it”s impossible to address so many areas while still effectively installing the game plan for each opponent. And this week, MSU coaches are spending Monday and Tuesday recruiting.
“This time of year, it”s hard to continue to do it all, but we”ve got to pick and choose some things we know with this team,” Stansbury said. “What we have, the personnel have, it”s not what we want the personnel to do but what it”s capable of doing, to pick and choose those things to help us to continue to get better.”
On top of that, Stansbury said he still “not happy” with where Sidney”s conditioning is but says “the process” is getting better.
Stansbury was pleased to see Bost, whom he said doesn”t have as much of a fitness mountain to climb as Sidney, take a such a big step in his play over the last two games.
“Missing those 17 days of practice really put him behind the curve,” Stansbury said. “But he”ll get his back in a hurry. You”ve seen his rhythm already, it was so much different from the first game.”
—- Tough RPI stretch
Mississippi State”s upcoming three-game stretch against the Southeastern Conference”s East Division will provide an RPI test it hasn”t faced this season.
Stansbury dropped some knowledge today on the much talked about imbalance between the two divisions and preparing for the likes of Georgia, Vanderbilt and Florida, which combined have an overall record of 38-11 and an average RPI of 25.3.
Stansbury acknowledged the East”s quality from top to bottom this year, and the annual consistency of Kentucky and Florida.
But the SEC West was criticized for having a down year last season, in which it didn”t have a single team make the NCAA tournament.
Stansbury, though, chalks it up to being “a trend.”
“I know our situation — I”m not gonna speak for everybody”s — in our 12 years we”re 45 and 45 against the East,” Stansbury said. “In SEC tournament play, overall in 12 years, we”re 10 and 8 against them. I think in the last four years, we”re 6 and 4 and in the last two years we”re 5 and 1. Again, I think there”s trends but we have been competitive against the East when you look at records. That changes from year to year.”
MSU dives into the SEC East gauntlet Saturday at Georgia (13-3, 2-1), which is coming off a 90-point outing and win over Ole Miss.
The Bulldogs (10-7, 2-1) host Vandy on Jan. 27 and Florida on Jan. 29. Both games will be broadcast nationally.
—- Bost named SEC Player of the Week
Just three games into his suspension-shortened junior season, Dee Bost has his first league award.
Bost was named SEC Player of the Week today after averaging 17 points, 4.5 rebounds and 8 assists in wins over Ole Miss and Auburn.
Bost shot 52 percent from the floor last week and saved his best performance for the Ole Miss match, which came after a disappointing debut loss at home to Alabama.
Bost dropped 25 points and doled out 8 assists against the Rebels.
Bost, along with Renardo Sidney, has had to work to get back into game shape after their respective layoffs. The former being used to playing extended minutes, Bost hasn”t shown the rust as much as he did against Alabama.
Stansbury said Bost”s biggest hurdle has been finding rhythm with new players and adapting to being the sole option at point guard.
Last season, starting two-guard Barry Stewart served as his backup but more importantly could handle the ball when both were on the court.
Bost was then able to float around the court and get different looks at the basket.
“Right now, it”s not easy for us to do that. Riley Benock and Ravern, that”s not their games, to be able to initiate the offense off the bounce and put it on the floor like a point guard,” Stansbury said. “Because of that, it”s put a little more responsibility on him to have to handle that basketball a little bit more.
“We want him to score. We have no problems with him scoring. The biggest thing for him is you don”t want him to search for his shot. There”s times I wish we could slide (Bost) to that two over there and have some freedom off that basketball and go score. I think as we go on, we”ll be able to do that.”
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