Better Late than Never: LSU at Mississippi State

Mississippi State broke a 3 game losing streak on Saturday when they beat LSU 85-78 to improve to 12-9(3-5). The Bulldogs got off to a very poor start, getting down 7-0 early and trailing 18-7 at about the midpoint of the first half. Then the threes started dropping. This would be the story of the game as MSU hit 13 three pointers, one short of the school record. State would finally take their first lead of the game, 35-33, at the 2:20 mark of the first half on a Reginald Delk three and entered halftime tied at 39. The second half was a back and forth affair, highlighted by a fantastic steal and dunk by Dietric Slater which tied the game at 54 and 6 straight points by Reggie Delk late in the game which put LSU away. 4 of the points came from getting fouled on a made three and converting the free throw. Then there was this... Yeah, I don't know how to embed the video, get over it. To be honest, it was probably a stupid play given time, score, and the likelihood for it to go horribly wrong... but it worked so WOOOO!!.

Reginald Delk led MSU in scoring with 18 points, 15 of them on 3 point shots. State needs him to continue knocking down the open looks. Slater actually had a very good game with 15 points and 4 rebounds. I buried him pretty hard a few days ago so its only fair that I give him credit when he has a good game. Another player that garners much criticism, Jamont Gordon, had a spectacular game: 14 points, 7 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and only 2 turnovers. The difference was Ben Hansbrough was running the point more than usual. I've said it before, Gordon is not a point guard. He is best used at the 3 position, so lets hope Hansbrough can continue his solid play at point guard in the future.

Now come the criticisms. Those 13 three point shots were nice, but how often is that kind of shooting night to come along? Miss. State needs to be able to win in other ways and I'm not sure if they can. Another problem is rebounding. MSU got out-rebounded 36 to 26. This has become a trend, unfortunately I don't know anything can be done about it in the immediate future. The fact is the best line-up for MSU is a 4 guard look, which means they are very very small. This whole rebounding issue brings me to my next point of criticism, Charles Rhodes, who had a whopping 2 rebounds. Barry Stewart was the only Miss. State player that played significant minutes with fewer rebounds. How can you be the biggest player on the floor for your team and yet have the second fewest rebounds? Maybe I'm nitpicking but,

"It's just like shooting," Rhodes said. "You have a night where you don't shoot the ball that well, some nights you do. Some nights you don't rebound the ball that well, some nights you do. It's something that athletes go through."

What? Its not like shooting at all!! There should never be an "off night" rebounding. You're not rebounding the ball because you're not trying. Maybe if you put forth a little effort you'll get a few more. Just a thought.

Of the final 8 games, 5 are on the road. Miss St. has lost 11 straight SEC road games. This will have to change if they hope to make any sort of run. The next two are at Alabama and at Auburn. Personally, I'm just hoping for a split. If they win both, you might be able to upgrade the Bulldogs NCAA tournament hopes from "dead" to "on a respirator", with the plug getting pulled at the first sign of trouble