Three Takeaways From The Regular Season Finale For Mississippi State Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss - The Mississippi State Bulldogs close out the season in the same fashion as the past two losses. The trend for these games has been one step forward and two steps back.
That is on the offensive end and more importantly, on the defensive side of the ball. Since the loss against No. 15 Kentucky, the Bulldogs have struggled to get a lead as well as maintain one. They are fighting off of their back foot and that is incredibly difficult to do.
The Bulldogs will have to improve if they want a deep run in the SEC Tournament. Here are some takeaways from the loss against South Carolina.
Paint/Post Defense
In this game, South Carolina's big men combined for 44 points. Most of that was inside the paint as they played bully ball most of the night on Tolu Smith. Smith was also not as aggressive on both ends of the ball. Ever since he has been inserted back into the starting lineup, his production has dropped. When he was coming off the bench for a couple of games in the middle of SEC play, he was fantastic and playing with a fire lit under him. Since then he has had a lack of presence in the paint and people are scoring with ease around the rim.
Playing From Behind
It has been a common occurrence in the past few games where the Bulldogs are battling to get back into games instead of control the tempo of games like in the beginning of the season. That could come down the the level of competition and the improvement of offense in the SEC, but the bulldogs are struggling to keep up with some of the high octane offenses.
Josh Hubbard helps a lot with the scoring load as he has been a scoring machine all season long and especially during this closing stretch of the regular season. The issue is stopping teams from scoring after MSU goes on a run. In many of failed comebacks, the Bulldogs just can't find ways to stop anyone of defense. Slow rotations on pick and rolls, losing track of the ball when it is popping from player to player, and lack of effort hurts the team when runs are starting to get them back into the game.
Timely Missed Free Throws
It has been an issue all season and the issue was on full display in the closing stretches of the game. Missed free throws from Dashawn Davis, Smith, and Hubbard cost the Bulldogs an opportunity to sell the deal against the Gamecocks. This game was one of the best shooting the team has done from the line finishing the game 19-25 but those five missed free throws came in crunch time were shots can't be missed.
The Bulldogs have a chance to seal their ticket to selection sunday if they can rattle off a couple of wins in the SEC Tournament but it will be a tall task as they have to shake off this four game skid they are on.
