Mississippi State is a tough basketball team to figure out. They're one of the more talented teams in the country, and one of the most inconsistent. They're capable of a deep run into the NCAA tournament -- but the Bulldogs might not even make the field.
Mississippi State went toe-to-toe with Kentucky last night, playing with energy and toughness, taking a 13-point halftime lead before Kentucky pulled off the inevitable comeback.
The Bulldogs have nopw lost four games in a row now and fallen to 6-7 in the SEC. With three SEC contests remaining -- at Alabama, at South Carolina and home against Arkansas -- Miss. St. probably need two wins, and maybe another in the SEC tournament.
But all these Bulldogs need to do is watch the game film of their near-upset from last night, and they should have no trouble convincing themselves that they are one of the better teams in the country, that they ought to win all three of their remaining games, and make some noise in the conference tournament, too.
It was almost frustrating to watch Mississippi State play so well last night, because you realize that there's no reason why they shouldn't play that well every game. But they don't. In this four-game losing streak, they've also lost to a mediocre Auburn team, and lost at home to a bad Georgia team.
It was really tough luck that the Bulldogs lost Rodney Hood to a sprained knee injury just before halftime last night -- that might have been the difference in the game. I say might becuase Kentucky, of course, because it was kind of hard to imagine Kentucky not coming back and winning that game, regardless of who was on the floor for Mississippi State -- but losing Hood completely changed the dynamic of the game.
Bulldogs point guard Dee Bost torched the Wildcats in the first half, scoring 16 of his game-high 21 points before halftime. But with Hood -- the Bulldogs' 6-8 swingman -- out of the game, the Wildcats were able to switch their 6-7 athlete Michael Kidd-Gilchrist onto the 6-2 Bost. Bost didn't get much going against MGK, and Kentucky didn't have to worry about Hood running around unchecked.
They came so close. An upset over Kentucky would have put Miss. St. in the tournament, would have probably ensured a pretty nice seed too. There's got to be a pretty big emotional let down for the Bulldogs after putting leaving it all on the floor, and leaving with a loss.
They could pack it in now, slump through the end of the season and disappear into NIT anonymity in March. Or the Bulldogs could use the near-upset as a reminder of the immense potential they have -- the potential that they lived up to last night -- and get the job done down the stretch.
Mississippi St. travels to Alabama on Saturday. We'll find out then whether their fourth-straight loss was a spring board to a winning streak, or another step in a late-season tailspin.
The Alabama game tips off at 6 p.m.
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