The SEC’s new television contract with ESPN and the lack of depth on Rick Stansbury’s basketball team has become a bad combination for the Bulldogs.
The new television contract, worth $2.25 billion, changed the weekly schedule that teams had grown accustomed to over the years. Last year, most SEC weeks consisted of a game on Wednesday night and on Saturday. This year, many teams must play televised Thursday night games and then turn around and play again on Saturday with only one light day of practice to prepare for the next team.
Stansbury said that the scheduling was inconvenient, but also thought it was fair because it affects every team in the league.
“It will be an adjustment, but to my knowledge everybody in the league has to do it,” Stansbury said. “It’s just part of our new TV deal that we have; it’s part of being on TV every game, having to move some games around. It’s not as convenient for us, for sure.”
The Bulldogs have already completed one Thursday-Saturday sweep this season.
They won home games over Arkansas and Georgia, but the Georgia game was one of the sloppier games the team has played this season.
Junior Phil Turner said he is not worried about the quick turnaround because it is something the Bulldogs are used to. Last March they won four games in four days to win the SEC Tournament.
“We’ve been through it before, so it’s not gonna be too big of a deal,” Turner said. “We’re just gonna have to make sure we get our rest like we been doing and just keep playing.”
This week, the challenge becomes more difficult for MSU. They must travel to Arkansas for a Thursday night game that tips off at 8 p.m., then play a home game on Saturday against LSU at 12:30 p.m. The team won’t return from Fayetteville until the early hours of Friday morning, meaning they will have approximately 30 hours to prepare for the LSU game.
This scenario creates problems for any team, but when you add the Bulldogs’ lack of depth into the mix, it becomes difficult to have fresh legs on the court.
While the starting five have remained healthy, MSU has played all season without key reserves Elgin Bailey, Twany Beckham and Shaun Smith while Renardo Sidney has still not been cleared to play by the NCAA anytime soon.
One of the problems the Bulldogs have had all year is finding a way to rest senior Jarvis Varnado. He is averaging 36.5 minutes per game in SEC play, a statistic Stansbury said needs to change.
“[That’s] way too many minutes to be effective,” Stansbury said.
Varnado said he plays a less physical style of play in the first half so he can be available in the second half.
“I try not to get fouls in the first half, because they need me out there,” Varnado said. “[I] just play smart and know when to go and when not to go.”
Guards Barry Stewart and Dee Bost are both in the top five in the SEC in minutes played per game. Stewart gets more game minutes because he is the backup point guard to Bost.
Stansbury said the current situation leaves both players without many chances to rest during games.
“I’m not able to play [Stewart] enough there, and in turn Dee Bost gets worn out,” Stansbury said. “It’s not that Barry can’t play the point. He does a very good job with it. The problem we have is when he goes to point, he’s already tired.”
Playing a lot of minutes is nothing new for Stewart. The senior only needs 10 more minutes of playing time to break former standout Jeff Malone’s record of 3,851 minutes played in an MSU uniform. The leading contributor off the bench is Turner, a Grenada native, who is averaging nearly six points and five rebounds a game. Turner said if the bench could play more minutes it would make a difference in games’ closing minutes.
“I feel like the bench is gonna play a major part the longer we go down the stretch,” Turner said. “It’s a long season. It tears your body down. The more you can rest your starters and the guys who play a lot, the better for late game situations.”
Stansbury said he would like to see more shots from reserve guard Riley Benock, who often makes an extra pass instead of taking a shot.
“We tell him every day, ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot,'” Stansbury said. “We need Riley to give us more minutes so I can rest Dee more, so I can rest Barry more.”
While Stansbury is trying to get more shots out of Benock, he also needs to worry about the amount of shots his starters are making. In MSU’s games against Georgia and Alabama, the team shot a combined 10 of 49 from beyond the three-point line.