MSU looks to keep up momentum against Georgia
The last week has been a breath of fresh air for Mississippi State's men's basketball team.
After the Bulldogs lost five of their first seven Southeastern Conference games this season, they have now won two in a row with a victory over Missouri last Saturday and a win at South Carolina on Wednesday.
The recent success has State (16-6, 4-5) riding high as it prepares to host Georgia (13-8, 4-5) Saturday in a 5 p.m. game.
“It’s really positive,” Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland said of his team’s two-game winning streak. “It reinforces all the hard work and effort the guys are putting in. All the extra shooting and film work and walkthroughs, everything is coming together. It’s a really great chemistry and the guys have a lot of unselfishness. The bench is awesome. When guys aren’t in the game, they’re still into the game. They’re rooting their teammates on. It’s all been super positive.”
Mississippi State’s resurgence has been spearheaded by its offense. It’s an upward trend MSU hopes continues Saturday.
State has shot better than 50 percent as a team in each of the last two contests after not doing that in any of the year’s previous seven SEC outings.
All season long, MSU has relied heavily on its defense – the group leads the SEC and is 32nd nationally in points allowed. However now, it appears the offense is catching up as it has begun to limit its reliance on the 3-point shot and become a more balanced attack.
“I think taking less 3s has been good the last few games,” Howland said. “We’re not taking as many, we’re playing inside out and then you have (center) Abdul (Ado) doing a really good job and you look at our bigs scoring around the basket. That’s been huge for us, and we’re passing the ball well and making the extra pass. It’s a combination of a lot of things.”
Mississippi State will likely need all those factors to continue today as Georgia comes to town. The eastern-most set of Bulldogs in the SEC are riding high themselves after upsetting Florida on Tuesday.
Georgia boasts an impressive defense that is tops in the league in field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to just 39 percent shooting. The Bulldogs of Athens also have a weapon in senior forward Yante Maten, who is the only player in the SEC that is among the league’s top 10 in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and free-throw percentage.
Maten is the conference’s leading scorer (19.6 points per game) and second-leading rebounder (nine per game).
“They’re strong,” Howland said of Georgia. “They have arguably the best player in the league with Yante Maten.
“They have incredible length and depth. They really play big. They pound it at you inside and get to the line. They’re a very good defensive team. They pound you on the glass. They’re just a tough, physical team who can take it at you.”
Make no mistake though, Georgia will likely have its hands full today as well. State is 14-1 on its home floor this season. Couple that with the good vibes around the MSU program the last week and Howland's Bulldogs seem like a team prepared to keep building momentum.
There is some basketball left to play this season. While there have been several bumps in the road up to this point, MSU is finally feeling like it might have something going its way and don’t plan on slowing down Saturday.
“Everybody loves winning,” State junior forward Aric Holman said. “We’ve had our struggles the last couple of years, but right now, this team is really different than past teams. We are really together and all working towards the same goal. That’s what helps us to stay on track.”
