Mississippi State Hoops: Are the Bulldogs ready for ‘Statement Week’?
Can the Bulldogs pull off a huge statement win against a ranked team this week?
Mississippi State’s men’s basketball team rebounded nicely after dropping its first two SEC contests, beating both Florida and Vanderbilt this past week. The Florida matchup was similar to the battle with Ole Miss just three days before: the Bulldogs stretched out big leads only to allow its opponent close the gap. Much like the Ole Miss game, the matchup with the Gators came down to the wire.
The Bulldogs needed a big play in order to avoid falling to 0–3 in conference play; and they got it. Trailing by two, point guard Lamar Peters used his crazy impressive handles to get by his defender and into the paint where he found an open Quinndary Weatherspoon for an easy layup. Florida answered on the other end, setting the stage of a tied game with under ten seconds left.
It was Quinndary Weatherspoon time.
Q received the inbound pass and, without any hesitation, drove down the court and into the paint, laying the ball into the basketball for the go-ahead points while drawing a blocking foul in the process. The bucket put State up by two prior to Weatherspoon’s and-one free-throw, which gave the Bulldogs a 71–68 advantage with three seconds left.
Florida went on to fail to get a shot off, and the Bulldogs notched its first SEC victory of the season. Up next was a road game against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Memorial Gymnasium, a place in which State has historically struggled to leave with a victory.
From the opening tip-off on, Mississippi State dominated its game with the Commodores. A Lamar Peters three-pointer stretched the Bulldogs lead to 10–0, and MSU never looked back. Vandy eventually closed the gap to six at one point in the first half, but that was the closest that Bryce Drew’s squad got on Saturday evening in the Music City.
Mississippi State recovered well after the first week of SEC play, but this week presents its toughest two-game stretch yet: a road date with the Kentucky Wildcats in Rupp Arena tonight followed by hosting Auburn on Saturday night in The Hump.
Both the Wildcats and the Tigers are nationally ranked; Kentucky is ranked 8th nationally, while Auburn comes in at 16th. Mississippi State sits at number 22 in the polls. Kentucky held off a late Auburn second half surge to beat the Tigers in Auburn Arena by two points this past weekend. Needless to say, the Bulldogs will have its hands full when competing against both of these squads.
Mississippi State needs a statement win in a huge way. The wins over Cincinnati, Wofford, Dayton, and Clemson are all nice, but a signature win over one of the SEC’s best would be huge to have in Ben Howland’s back pocket come Selection Sunday.
Furthermore, the importance of avoiding another 0–2 week and falling to 2–4 in conference play after three weeks is huge. While this team should — and likely will — make the tournament, it needs to start taking care of business on the court and creating a resume for seed positioning. The SEC being good is helpful in terms of NET rankings, but that won’t matter much if State does not get the wins necessary.
While failing to win one of these next two games will not end the season in January, notching a victory over a top-20 caliber squad would be a huge statement for Ben Howland’s team.
