The 2nd Mississippi State Postgame Report

#1
cncchris33

cncchris33

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#1
What a disappointing loss at home (71-66). Officiating was abysmal, which is to be expected from a Teddy Valentine-led crew. We didn't do ourselves any favors to help either. NCAA chances took a big hit with this loss unless we steal some we didn't expect to win.

The Good...
1. JRich was his usual self. Maybe better. Career-high 30 pts, 5 assts, 1 reb. He single-handedly kept us in the game.

2. Tariq Owens played well getting the start. Had a couple nice baskets in traffic, and made a lot of hustle plays.

3. Willie Carmichael played his best game in three weeks. 4 pts and 4 rebs.

4. We dominated the boards (33-26), especially offensively (20 ORebs).

The Bad...
1. We allowed the worst 3-point shooting team to shoot 73% against us (8-11).

2. MSU didn't hit their first FG in the 2nd half until something like 13:00 minutes left in the half, and we still trailed by 3.

3. Derek Reese had another forgettable offensive performance (0-6 from the field), and most of the misses were ugly. Compounding his poor play was his miss on a dunk that would have tied the game late, leading to a break for MSU and an And-1, a 5 point swing.

4. We were outshot from the field, the 3-point line, and the FT line. You don't win many games doing that.

5. Aside from the shooting woes, we had more rebs, more assts, less TOs, more steals, more blocks. Heck, we even hit 6 more shots.

Bottom line...
It's hard to figure out how we lost. We just didn't make plays to put points on the board. Too many missed shots that negated our huge offensive rebounding advantage. This loss really hurts, and the losses are home are piling up. Alabama, A&M, and MSU were home games I had counted on winning. We have to steal some now to have a chance at the NCAA tournament. 2 wins vs LSU and a win at Georgia would help.
 
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#2
#2
So I know Derek had an awful game shooting the ball, but his offensive rebounding seriously kept us in the game with those 2nd chance points. Him and Armani combined 13 offensive rebounds.

Overall, I'm not happy with the loss. Good write up chris.
 
#4
#4
Just a case of one team shooting well and one team not. Still question some of our 3-pt selection.
 
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#5
#5
SpringBokVol said:
Team looked flat and tired. Not the same effort we have seen before.
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I thought we played great hustle ball, with the exception of getting out to defend the arc. You don't dominate the offensive glass without effort.
 
#7
#7
iKrager said:
So I know Derek had an awful game shooting the ball, but his offensive rebounding seriously kept us in the game with those 2nd chance points. Him and Armani combined 13 offensive rebounds.

Overall, I'm not happy with the loss. Good write up chris.
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Those offensive rebounds are the only thing keeping him on the court right now. The shot looks horrible, and the shot selection is just as bad. Imo
 
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#8
#8
We already struggle offensively and when nothing is falling we are pretty bad. We will always hustle so we will be fun to watch. Expecting NIT at this point. This loss hurts our NCAA tournament chances big time.
 
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#9
#9
SpringBokVol said:
Team looked flat and tired. Not the same effort we have seen before.
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Its the SEC...how can you be flat. A must win game against a team you should beat at home for gosh sakes. I don't blame Donnie at all...this one on the players. It is beyond me this mentality players have that, "We got this"...well if you don't play hard you don't have "this"...you lose "this".
 
#11
#11
Cletus P Fulmer said:
Its the SEC...how can you be flat. A must win game against a team you should beat at home for gosh sakes. I don't blame Donnie at all...this one on the players. It is beyond me this mentality players have that, "We got this"...well if you don't play hard you don't have "this"...you lose "this".
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I think we played hard. You don't offensive rebound like we did and be lazy. Sometimes shots don't fall or Valentine is officiating.
 
#13
#13
VolGee4 said:
And he was recruited to be a shooter at the 3 or a stretch 4. The dunk is really disappointing.
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It was, but I love the effort on that missed dunk. That one is about 3rd in the order of the poor shot selection list. Just make it, you know.?
 
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#14
#14
Cletus P Fulmer said:
Its the SEC...how can you be flat. A must win game against a team you should beat at home for gosh sakes. I don't blame Donnie at all...this one on the players. It is beyond me this mentality players have that, "We got this"...well if you don't play hard you don't have "this"...you lose "this".
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People confuse poor effort with poor execution. Some of our fans would say this when Martin was here. His teams played hard; they were just poorly coached to out scheme the opponent.

This team played hard tonight. As poster above said, when you out rebound your opponent with this team, the effort is fine. Poor execution, poor ball handling at times, and poor officiating.
 
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#16
#16
VolGee4 said:
And he was recruited to be a shooter at the 3 or a stretch 4. The dunk is really disappointing.
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The missed dunk took most of the air out of our sails and what little air was left was taken by that awful shot he took the next time down the court. Of course if we hit our free throws those things don't even matter. The free throws probably bother me the most. It's free dad-gum points for goodness sakes.
 
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#18
#18
Squatch_Vol said:
The missed dunk took most of the air out of our sails and what little air was left was taken by that awful shot he took the next time down the court. Of course if we hit our free throws those things don't even matter. The free throws probably bother me the most. It's free dad-gum points for goodness sakes.
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If we had shot as many as MSU, we would have won. MSU shot 79 free throws in our two games.
 
#19
#19
Simply put we miss Jabari and the flashes of what we saw with Mostella and Baulkman earlier this year. We need them badly. I just wish Woodson would have came in and took advantage of the 2nd chance he got smh. We sure could use him.
 
#20
#20
VolGee4 said:
If we had shot as many as MSU, we would have won. MSU shot 79 free throws in our two games.
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That's also true. It just drives me nuts when guys like Punter step to the charity stripe and throw up bricks. He was recruited to score points.
 
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#22
#22
Stoked said:
Simply put we miss Jabari and the flashes of what we saw with Mostella and Baulkman earlier this year. We need them badly. I just wish Woodson would have came in and took advantage of the 2nd chance he got smh. We sure could use him.
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Agreed. We don't have a strong inside presence which means we typically have to shoot well. Tonight was an example of no inside presence coupled with poor shooting. I like Owens and Carmichael, but they're just not quite there yet.
 
#23
#23
Squatch_Vol said:
That's also true. It just drives me nuts when guys like Punter step to the charity stripe and throw up bricks. He was recruited to score points.
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He has been one of our most consistent scorers. He's just off at the free throw line. Especially late in games?
 
#25
#25
Stoked said:
He has been one of our most consistent scorers. He's just off at the free throw line. Especially late in games?
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I wonder if he's losing his legs down the stretch? I haven't noticed him being fatigued but it could be a factor.
 
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