The Mississippi State men’s basketball team will go on the road to Baton Rouge for a rematch with the LSU Tigers Saturday after losing a thriller on a game-winning shot by LSU guard Anthony Hickey nearly two weeks ago.
The Bulldogs led the majority of the game, but let it slip away in the final seconds.
Head coach Rick Ray said he is more concerned with his team’s ability to stay in the game this time around rather than worrying about what his team has to do to make sure they do not blow a lead again.
“We have to be in the game first,” Ray said. “If we’re in the game, then we can worry about finishing it out.”
Ray’s concern was justified after his team suffered the worst loss at the Humphrey Coliseum in MSU history Wednesday night. Missouri won the game easily 78-36.
The loss extends MSU’s losing streak to nine games, which is the team’s longest losing streak since 1981 and tied for the fourth longest losing streak in school history. The 36 points scored by the Dogs was also the lowest point total of the season.
Freshman Gavin Ware said he was extremely disappointed after the loss.
“It is kind of embarrassing for us to come out and not compete,” Ware said. “We are in a slump, but through it all we will come back. It’s like one of our coaches said, we still have seven games left whether we like it or not, so we just have to keep playing.”
Ray shared Gavin’s sense of shame in the team’s performance.
“To be quite frank, this is an embarrassing loss,” Ray said. “You would hope that our guys would have some pride about themselves and about Mississippi State basketball and want to go out and rectify that. And if that’s not enough to motivate them, then we got problems.”
Obviously, when a team is on a nine-game losing streak and has an overall record of 7-15, things are not going well to say the least.
But injuries have had a huge impact on this team. Right now, State has three scholarship players (Wendell Lewis, Jacoby Davis and Andre Applewhite) out with injuries, and they are going to be out for the rest of the season.
It also does not help matters that disciplinary issues have seemed to plague this team all year as junior guard and supposed “team leader” Jalen Steele is currently suspended indefinitely.
Ray expressed his disappointment in Steele in a press release earlier in the week. “It was a selfish act,” Ray said. “The thing that’s disappointing for me as far as our disciplinary issues is our freshmen need somebody to look up to and, right now to be honest with you, we just don’t have that.”
Colin Borchert was also suspended earlier in the year, and before the year even started, players were dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons.
When a team has major injuries and an abundance of youth, those factors mixed with multiple disciplinary issues really set a team back. In the loss to Missouri, the Bulldogs only had eight active players, and just six of those were scholarship players.
Trivante Bloodman, who led the Dogs with 13 points against Missouri, said he would not blame the team’s struggles on injuries and players being out.
“Yeah, we have a lot of injuries, but you can’t really blame that. Look at Kentucky last year. They only played six or seven guys, and they won games,” Bloodman said. “That just means you have to step up and work twice as hard, and we didn’t.”
In Saturday’s game at LSU, the Dogs will be short-handed again, making rotations even shorter. Guys will have to play more minutes and at a higher level to compensate for the loss of talent on the floor.
The Tigers stand at 13-8 (4-6), led by Johnny O’Bryant III and Hickey, who both average 12.3 points per game. Tip off for Saturday’s game against the Tigers is set for 4 p.m.