The words rolled of his tongue more quickly than expected. There was no holding back. No covering up the truth. Nothing else was needed in this scenario.
“That team whipped us,” head coach Rick Stansbury said, his face pale and full of distraught. “They beat us in every category that’s possible to get beat in. Now I understand why they are so good.”
Stansbury’s voice quivered as he said those words shortly after he suffered the worst home loss of his eight-year head coaching tenure at Mississippi State.
He didn’t have to say any more. He summed the lop-sided loss up perfectly. His team was viciously destroyed by one that was much better in almost every facet of the game. Tennessee, a team loaded with experience, starting two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore, brought a scheme to The Hump that few have ever seen orchestrated on that floor.
And few will ever see it orchestrated as good as it was Wednesday night.
On defense it was a relentless, confusing press along with a close man-to-man cover. And on offense it was a high-octane attack that had the fans catching their breaths.
It was the kind of scheme you rarely see, but when you see it, you watch in amazement as everything flows together. It was virtually unstoppable, explaining the 88-65 final score.
“It’s different,” UT coach Bruce Pearl said about his press, which troubled the Bulldogs, especially early. “You don’t see it all the time. It creates a little tempo for us. It allows you to be aggressive.”
Tennessee’s ability to score quickly on the offensive end was illustrated early. Six seconds into the game, the Volunteer’s 6-foot-10 center Major Wingate tipped in the first basket of the game.
Their offensive attack caught fire after that. After a Bulldog miss or make, the Vols raced down court quickly looking for an open look. Before MSU could set up any kind of defense, a shot had been fired. There was nothing State could do. And when an open shot presented itself, which it did several times, the Vols rarely missed, making 52 percent of their shots.
“We didn’t do a very good job of finding them in transition,” Stansbury said. “You have to limit those transition baskets.”
The Bulldogs played with a smaller lineup than normal in an attempt to get the ball inbounded and moved up the floor against pressure from Tennessee’s man-press. Seven-foot-two Wesley Morgan played only five minutes and 6-foot-9 forward Piotr Stelmach never played.
The small lineup had difficulties at getting the ball inbounded at first, costing the Bulldogs a couple of turnovers and two timeouts. Soon they figured it out, but they never could stop UT’s quick, high-powered offense, while their own floundered.
“We were very inefficient in half court offense,” said Stansbury of his small lineup, which shot 32 percent, including hitting just five of 27 three-pointers. “I understand our team is not very good right now, and we got to find a way to get better.”
Unlike Stansbury’s last couple of teams, this one doesn’t have much of a rhythm. There’s no tempo; no click. The only player that penetrates the lane consistently is a true freshman (in case you don’t know that would be Jamont Gordon). And there is no real inside presence. Charles Rhodes is learning. He’s making strides, but MSU’s offense is at a stand still right now.
“We just don’t have much rhythm,” Stansbury said. “It’s been one thing after another with this team.”
It will continue to be one thing after another until a rhythm is found on offense. The Bulldogs are only averaging 60 points a game, 11th in the conference. They’re at the bottom of nearly every other offensive category, too. The defense is also slipping. Once at the top of the league in field goal defense, the Bulldogs are now eighth.