Bulldogs battle LSU looking to even SEC record

It has already been a season of tremendous highs and gut-punching lows for Mississippi State. Despite all the speed bumps, MSU hits the floor on Wednesday night with a chance to even up its Southeastern Conference record and stay in the running for a double bye in the upcoming SEC Tournament.

The Bulldogs play host to LSU at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night and a victory for State would give MSU two straight wins and get the team back to .500 in league play. It'd allow the Bulldogs to enter the final third of the SEC schedule with a fighting chance to finish the regular season in one of the coveted top four spots in the conference, given the league's currently-tightly-packed standings.

Is State head coach Ben Howland aware of the big picture? Of course. But he, nor his team, seem focused on it. With LSU coming to town, MSU is back to the old Howland philosophy shared by many of his peers – one game at a time.

"We talk about the fact that if we win (Wednesday), it'd put us back even in the SEC at 6-6," Howland said of discussions with his team. "That's what our goal is (right now). It's to get back even again. So we try to keep focused on the now."

For State to accomplish its mission on Wednesday, the Bulldogs will have to slow down one of the SEC's top offenses. LSU is second in the league, averaging 81.5 points per game. Only Arkansas' 82.7 points per game is better than the Tigers.

LSU has four players averaging double figures in scoring. Cameron Thomas leads the entire SEC with 22.3 points per game. The Tigers also get 16.8 per game from Trendon Watford, 15.4 per contest from Javonte Smart and 12.1 per outing from Darius Days. Days is also a strong rebounder as he's fourth in the SEC with 7.9 boards per game.

See below for more information on Wednesday's game including how you can follow along, as well as comments from Howland's pre-LSU press conference. To watch Howland's full media session, see the video above.

What: LSU (11-6, 6-4) at Mississippi State (11-9, 5-6)
Where: Humphrey Coliseum – Starkville, Mississippi
When: 8 p.m. central on Wednesday, February 10, 2021
TV/Video: ESPNU, Online via ESPN.com/ESPN App
Radio/Audio: Mississippi State Sports Radio Network (click here for full list of affiliates), online at Hailstate.com and the TuneIn radio app

Comments from Ben Howland's 2-9-21 media session:

Question: What kind of challenges do the LSU trio of Trendon Watford, Cameron Thomas, and Javonte Smart present?

Ben Howland: “They’re really good players. Starting with [Cameron] Thomas, he’s the leading freshman scorer in the country this year. He’s really able to get his own shot because of his incredible elevation on his shot. He gets two-and-a-half, three feet in the air every time he shoots a jump shot. It’s very hard to defend him. When he gets hot, he can really get on a roll. We’ve seen it. Maybe the first couple of league games I watched him play, somehow, I was watching them [LSU]. I don’t know who they were playing, but it was someone we were getting ready to play. He was just killing it. It was just amazing. He’s very talented.”

“I’ve always loved [Javonte] Smart. Smart’s a junior now, a very intelligent point guard. He plays on a really good teams for LSU. I’ve watched their Texas Tech game last night, and he was so good in that game. They should’ve won that game for sure. He had 29 points and was just orchestrating everything offensively. They’re top 10 in the country in [KenPom] offensive efficiency because of these three players along with Darius Days, who according to what I’m reading into from [the tweets following] Will Wade’s [press conference] this morning. He’s going to play against us tomorrow. He had sprained his ankle in that [Texas] Tech game and missed their last SEC game at Alabama … He’s a very, very good player as well. He’s had a lot of experience because he’s been a starter for a couple of year’s now and has played a lot all three years he’s been there.”

“And then, [Trendon] Watford, is really talented. Watford waffled where he was even coming back this year. He put his name in last year and went through the whole [NBA Draft] process. Then, at the last minute, he elected to stay. A year ago, he was their starting three man and had never played the four before. Now, he’s playing the four exclusively almost. He’s a really a hard matchup for your four’s because you have a three man who has great size, really skilled and hard matchup whether he shoots it. He’s a great passer. He’s very good around the basket, and he’s an excellent offensive rebounder. They are very talented.”

Q: How has Deivon Smith handled starting in the last three games?

BH: “I think what he does for us is he does a great job pushing the ball in transition, that’s number one. We saw we had a lot of good defensive positions in our last game at South Carolina and scored a lot in transition out of those stops. He’s a big part of the reason why because he does a good job of advancing the ball with the pass and also pushing the ball with the dribble. Just a nice job on a number of decisions there doing that for us.”

“The biggest thing for him is keep getting better in the halfcourt offense – penetrating and making good decisions at the end of his drives. And also, being a better defender and being able to stay in front of the ball. I think he has really grown in that area. He’s doing a better job jumping to his passes, stunting and getting into gaps and getting back into zone. It’s just a continuous growth thing, especially staying in front of the ball and not getting penetrated on when he’s on the ball.”

Q: What has been your message to the team in the big picture with their being a couple of games separating second/third place from ninth/10th place?

BH: “We talk about the fact that if we can win tomorrow, it will put us even in the SEC at 6-6. That’s what our goal is to get back even again. We try to keep focused on the now.”

Q: How much of a step forward did you see after during these recent SEC road games?

BH: “It was a huge step for us, and our guys were really excited about the win [at South Carolina] as you can imagine. We had beat Iowa State the previous Saturday, but that wasn’t a conference game. To win on the road is always special and always difficult. All the games are difficult, but with that being said, winning on the road was special.”

“South Carolina was coming off a great win where they just won at Florida and played a very good Florida team tough and ended up winning down there. So, this was a positive step for our team. Now, we need to build on it. We’re going to be really tested because LSU has been off. They haven’t played in a week. They’ve been sitting there waiting on us now … You never know how it’s going to work out. This is going to be a tough game. [Darius] Days is supposed to be back, and that’s a big step in the right direction for them because he’s a very good player.”

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