Good Practices, Bad Results: Mississippi State’s Season Slips After Loss to Arkansas

After a loss to Arkansas, Mississippi State players and coaches say practices remain sharp, but mental lapses, turnovers, and momentum swings continue to haunt the Bulldogs.

Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Dellquan Warren (1) dribbles as Arkansas Razorbacks guard Meleek Thomas (1) and forward Malique Ewin (12) defends during the second half at Humphrey Coliseum. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Allen Iverson famously wasn’t a fan of talking about basketball practices. But we’re talking practices today.

Mississippi State lost its seventh SEC game of the season Saturday to No. 21 Arkansas, 88-68, putting the Bulldogs’ hopes of a fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance in serious jeopardy.

Coaches and players both have talked about the team’s practices being good, but they’re not transferring over into games.

“Coach says it all the time, that we’re probably one of the best practice teams in the country,” freshman Jamarion Davis-Fleming said after Saturday’s game. “You come watch us practice, and we do exactly what we’re supposed to do. But in games, something falls off mentally. Certain areas break down, but it’s fixable. It’s not something we can’t correct. It’s mostly mental.”

“I felt really good going into the game,” Bulldogs’ coach Chris Jans said. “There hasn’t been a game all year where I walked out of the tunnel not believing we were prepared and ready to win. We knew we were going to have to play really well.”

At times Mississippi State played well. After allowing Arkansas to go on a 20-2 run in the first half, the Bulldogs had a run of their own to cut the lead to less than 10 points. But the Razorbacks were also playing well and ended the first half on a 6-0 run.

“It kind of killed the energy we had going,” Davis-Fleming said about the ending of the first half. “I felt like we should’ve come out in the second half with more pop than we did. Instead, we gave them a little more momentum.”

Turnovers were a big reason why Arkansas got ahead. During that 20-2 stretch, the Razorbacks forced five turnovers and scored seven points off of them.

“In the first half, I think we had six turnovers, and that really changed the game,” Davis-Fleming said. “If we don’t do that early, it’s a much closer game in the second half. We’re not digging ourselves into a hole. Earlier in the season, turnovers were an issue, then we cleaned it up — and now it feels like we dipped back into that. We’ve got to fix it.”

And where do teams fix issues like that? Practice.

“We’ve got to keep our practices at the required level and keep instilling confidence every day,” Jans said. “We’ve played better at times, in wins at home and on the road and we’ve got to keep the group together.

“We’ve got to keep fighting, scratching, clawing. I’m confident we will. I don’t think this team will be led astray or stop coming to work. We’ll keep working on individual improvement and getting ready to play another really good team in Tennessee.”

The Bulldogs will have a couple of days to prepare for the Volunteers, who will be coming to Starkville on Wednesday.