On Wednesday the Mississippi State men’s basketball team will travel to Lexington, Ky., to battle John Calipari’s Wildcat team.
Coach Cal and the Wildcats have experienced a disappointing season thus far, coming into the season ranked in the top five but now finding themselves unranked and in danger of missing the NCAA tournament. According to ESPN’s bracketology – where analysts project the 64 teams that would make the tournament if it started that day – the Wildcats would not be in the Big Dance at this point of the season.
On top of that, the Cats lost their big man and top-five projected overall NBA draft pick Nerlens Noel for the season to a torn ACL.
With just four games left in the regular season, Kentucky will now be playing with a sense of desperation and urgency unlike most of the season. And with State shorthanded, the Dogs could very well find themselves chasing the Cats around Rupp Arena.
The Bulldogs are coming off their second worst loss of the season and back-to-back 40-point blowout losses at home.
On Saturday the Bulldogs hosted Vanderbilt after playing a tough, competitive game against Alabama, where it seemed like the Dogs were getting back on track. State’s energy did not carry over to Saturday’s game, however, as MSU was beaten handedly 72-31.
Head coach Rick Ray said he thought the team would come out and play well after its performance against Alabama.
“I felt like we played good in all aspects of the game except turnovers against Alabama,” Ray said. “So to come out here and play like that against Vanderbilt is disappointing.”
Junior Jalen Steele said it feels like when the team takes one step forward, it takes two steps back.
“It’s like we’ll play good one game, and then the next game we’ll fall all the way off,” Steele said. “I guess we go into the games thinking it’s gonna be easy and don’t play as hard, and teams end up lighting us up.”
Saturday was the second home game in a row where MSU never led in the game. The Dogs were out-rebounded by an overwhelming margin of 51-17. Even more surprising was the 20-3 disparity on the offensive glass.
Fatigue due to the lack of depth and heavy minutes played by so many young players is clearly playing a role, but when a team gets out-rebounded like that, lack of effort plays a role, as well.
The Bulldogs offensive woes continued as they shot an abysmal 17.5 percent from the field on 7-40 shooting. They only hit two three-point attempts out of 19 tries.
Freshman Gavin Ware said something has to change.
“They just out-hustled and out-played us. We weren’t very competitive,” Ware said.  “We gotta find some way that we can start producing on the defensive and offensive end.”
The Bulldogs have now lost 12 straight games for the first time since 1955, and their 31 point out-put in Saturday’s game was the fewest of the season. State will be major underdogs against Kentucky and must quickly put this loss behind them if the Dogs are to go into Rupp and at least be competitive.
MSU also has to start hitting perimeter jump shots. Ray said he believes teams have figured out the blueprint to beating the Dogs.
“Teams are packing it in around Gavin and taking away driving lanes for (Craig) Sword and (Trivante) Bloodman, forcing us to shoot jump shots, and we’re just not making them,” Ray said.
In addition, Ray announced sophomore Roquez Johnson’s suspension will carry into Wednesday’s game, leaving the Dogs with eight available players.
Even without Noel, the Wildcats have a big seven-footer in the middle in Willie Cauley-Stein, who is averaging two blocks per game. His inside presence will allow Coach Cal to use the same strategy Vanderbilt and Missouri used and make the Bulldogs shoot perimeter shots.
At the end of the day, if Kentucky loses to a seven-win Bulldog team with six active scholarship players, the Cats can kiss the NCAA tournament goodbye, forcing an uphill battle for MSU Wednesday night.
Ray said he has not necessarily told his team to win to gain momentum, but just to win no matter what the case and continue to get better.
“You’re always trying to give your guys a way to beat the other team regardless of what the situation is,” Ray said. “I think it’s fair to say no one else in the country has been through what we’ve been through this season, both on and off the court.”