3 Areas of Improvement For Mississippi State Men’s Basketball in Win Over UT Martin

Looking into areas the Bulldogs can clean up as the season progresses.

Saturday saw another impressive win for the Mississippi State Bulldogs (2-0) as they soundly defeated UT Martin (1-1) in their home opener, 87-63. Freshman Josh Hubbard was explosive coming off the bench. He led both teams in scoring with 22 points with five 3-pointers. Mississippi State has made 10-plus 3-pointers in back-to-back games which was unfathomable last season. 

Even with the impressive start to the season, there are still small details that could be improved as the season continues.

Sloppy Turnovers

While only turning the ball over nine times, each time was as sloppy as the next. The new-found ball movement that State possesses has led to some bad turnovers from time to time. Now that shooting the ball from behind the arch can be used in this offense, slowing it down can allow the team to have cleaner games. Rebounding will not be a problem, so simple and clean passes will improve the little mistakes that are made.

Transition Defense

With the turnover and missed shots, comes transition defense and the lack thereof for Mississippi State. In most matchups, the size and the speed advantage will go to MSU and should make any fast break opportunity for the opposing team to be difficult. UT Martin took advantage of the turnovers and without consistent transition defense, points were given up. Games can be lost because of fast break points and having consistent transition defense can add to the defensive prowess of MSU.

Maintaining Consistency on Offense

Last season Mississippi State had the size but not the shooting that would have taken the Bulldogs over the edge. Even then, they used the size advantage that they possessed by getting to the free-throw line and making easy layups. MSU does not need to get too trigger-happy when it comes to the 3-pointers, but having the extra chances inside the paint can lead to more points. 

Mississippi State will look to continue their strong start against North Alabama (2-0) in Starkville on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

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