Mississippi State basketball: Bulldogs off to embarrassing SEC start in 2019

Ben Howland’s Mississippi State basketball team lost their second consecutive SEC game. This certainly isn’t the start to conference play that this team, or its fans, were hoping for.

The past week wasn’t too kind to Ben Howland and his (now 24th ranked) Mississippi State basketball team. The Bulldogs had a rough couple of games and are now starting conference play behind schedule thanks to two frustrating losses to start SEC play.

And really, the Bulldogs could have, and should have, won both of these games. That’s probably what makes this situation as irritating as it currently is.

Against South Carolina, the Mississippi State basketball team was facing a team that was 6-7 overall prior to the game. The Gamecocks aren’t as talented as these Bulldogs and, even considering their recent SEC hot streak, have struggled this year.

Mississippi State shot better than South Carolina from both the field (45.3 percent vs. 40.7 percent) and behind the three point line (44 percent vs. 34.8 percent) and the Bulldogs blocked 9 of the Gamecocks shots.

Still, MSU made far too many errors (16 turnovers) and could not control the boards, getting out-rebounded 47 to 40. And thus, the Bulldogs lost 87-82 in overtime.

Mississippi State had slightly different issues against Ole Miss.

Against the Ole Miss Rebels back home in Starkville, Mississippi State lost 81-77. And that’s mostly because the Rebels hit more of their shots than the Bulldogs from downtown (38.7 percent vs. 28.6 percent).

Ole Miss drained twice as many three point attempts (12) as Mississippi State (6). And that’s a huge reason for the Rebels coming out ahead of the Bulldogs.

Plus, there’s the fact that the turnover issue was not resolved and indeed persisted when the Bulldogs faced the Rebels. Mississippi State committed 15 turnovers. That’s a huge reason for yet another annoying loss.

Where do the Bulldogs go from here?

MSU gets another game at home, which the Bulldogs certainly need. Unfortunately, there’s a very real chance that many Mississippi State basketball fans won’t show up for the game. Regardless, the Bulldogs will get the Florida Gators in the Hump. That’s good seeing as Florida is 9-6 on the season and lost to South Carolina 71-69 in Gainesville. 

After that, Howland and his team will meet up with the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville. Vandy is currently on a three-game losing streak and is set to host the Gamecocks prior to hosting the Bulldogs.

Those are two very winnable games for Mississippi State and the Bulldogs could get up to .500 in conference play at 2-2 once this week is wrapped up.

But things get tougher after that.

Mississippi State, following its trip to Nashville, will then have to go to Lexington, Kentucky to play against the Wildcats. UK isn’t quite as good as it has been in years past, but the Wildcats are still one of the most talented programs in the country and it’s not easy to win in Rupp Arena. Oh, and Kentucky is currently 12-3 and 2-1 in SEC play, so it’s not like the Wildcats are having a down year at all. They’re still good.

And then State will return home to the Hump only to meet up with the currently 12-3 Auburn Tigers.

These next few games are crucial for the Mississippi State basketball team and the rest of the season. The Bulldogs need to find a way to win most of these SEC contests if they’re going to start living up to their potential.

This next stretch of SEC games will be hard for the Bulldogs to come out on top of. There’s plenty of talented teams up ahead and a couple of arduous road trips. We’re about to find out just what this team is made of.