Clemson 84, Mississippi State 82

Well, this was a tough loss to take. I know it is November, I know it is just the second game of the season, but this could be one of those games that we look back in March and say "Darn, if we had just won that Clemson game, we probably would have gotten in the tournament." Go ahead, laugh while you can. Remember last year? Remember we lost the Clemson game by 3? What if we had won? Would we have gotten in? I don't know, I think not, but it would have been much closer than it already was at the very least. So lets get down to it, some observations:


-I don't know why it took so long, but I had a revelation during this game. If Gordon were to get injured, the season is over. That isn't an exaggeration. Any games he can't play in, MSU might as well forfeit and save their energy. I mean it, if Gordon gets injured, especially seriously, the season is over. Period. He single handedly carries the team. He had 23 points and 12 rebounds by the way. He did have 6 TO too, which I thought had been corrected last year. Still, I don't know what Mississippi State is going to do next year when he is gone.

-I hate the new emphasis on coaches staying in the coaches box. If the pinky toe strays over the line they get hit with a technical, or at least a warning. Don't the refs have a game to be officiating? Maybe that is why they look like a bunch of ignorant fools, they're too busy staring at the coaches feet.

-While watching the game I thought Mississippi State was getting dominated on the boards. Then I took a look at the box score and what do you know, MSU had a 51-42 rebounding edge. So, I don't know why it felt like Clemson was winning the rebounding battle. Anyway, good to see the improvement in that category from the first game.

-The overall play of Mississippi State in the first half was embarrassing. They looked like they just didn't want to be there. Lazy passes, people just standing around, no blocking out, lazy defense, I could go on and on. The second half was much better and more what I would expect. I don't know what was going on that first 20 minutes.

-Actual attendance of 7,483. I suppose that is pretty good for a November game, but I was hoping, against my better judgement, for closer to a sellout. This wasn't Loyola-Marymount people. Even so, it sounded like a good atmosphere on T.V. Also, I very much approved of the "Ref You Suck" chant. Thumbs up from me.

-Well, I said yesterday this team needed to find a bench. I think they've got one good bench player in Brian Johnson. I loved what I saw from him. He had 10 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes. He looked like he might have been a step slower than the rest of the team, but was still moving plenty well enough to be effective. If he can give this level of play consistently I will be thrilled.

-So now we have 6 guys who can play, we still need 2 more. I thought 1 would be Phil Turner but he didn't do anything this game. There is still time, but 2 more guys will need to be found who can contribute some good minutes.

-Mississippi State did a poor job early on of handling the press. As the game progressed, I'd say they moved into the average category. That surprised me, you have 3 ball handlers in Stewart, Hansbrough and Gordon, and you can't beat a press?

-If you just look at his numbers, Varnado looks like he had a good game. 7 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 blocks. He is going to be a blocking machine all year, that much is apparent. Otherwise, despite the numbers, it looks like he still isn't quite strong enough to be a force down low. That is my fear, but again, similar to the rebounding, the numbers look good, so maybe I am completely off base. He's also going to foul out of several games if he doesn't learn not to pick up the cheap ones.

-MSU put Barry Stewart at the point alot in the 1st half, and that was while Gordon was in the game. I don't understand that at all. Plus it wasn't even slightly effective, in fact it was borderline disaster. Stewart is much more effective off the ball. I hope that was just an experiment. If you want to put Stewart at the point when Gordon is out of the game, alright go for it. I prefer Hansbrough, but whatever, go with Stewart if you want. To have him at point guard with Gordon in though, just doesn't make sense. Surely the coaches saw it didn't work though.

-Hansbrough was pretty bad this game. The old saying "if you can't say something good about someone then don't say anything at all" applies perfectly in this situation. So... I won't say anything.....except that it was bad. Lets hope that it was just an off night.

-Rhodes played well overall, 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks, but it looks like he is going to be taking more midrange shots (which I don't mind so much) and trying to beat people off the dribble from as far out as the three point line (which I think will be a complete disaster). So yeah, there will be many times over the season where you will find yourself saying "YEAH!!!! RHODES IS EFFIN AWSOME!!!" followed by "WHAT THE HELL ARE DOING RHODES!!!" no more than 2 or 3 minutes later. You've been warned.

-Free throws and turnovers killed MSU, as they seem to do every year. 19 turnovers to 10 assists. Not going to cut it. 19-31, 61.3% from the line. Pathetic. Bottom line, if they hit their free throws, they win the game. I just don't understand. Do you guys EVER practice shooting free throws? Do you not see that if you weren't so pathetic in this area you would have won the game? It just boggles my mind.

There are some good things going on, but the lack of a bench at the moment is the biggest problem in my mind right now. It felt like Stansbury is still trying to find a substitution pattern that works. I hope he gets it figured out. It was a loss, which sucks, but I don't think the team played up to their potential. We'll see how things play out.