Mississippi State Basketball: Grading the Lady Bulldogs 2-1 Start

Mississippi State Basketball: Grading the Lady Bulldogs 1st Three Games

The Nikki McCray-Penson era as the Mississippi State Basketball coach has begun. The Lady Bulldogs are now ranked #12 in the nation after losing to South Florida on December 5th. If you watched that game as I did, it was very tough to see how the game ended.

When the SEC released its preseason poll, the Lady Bulldogs were the nation’s #6 ranked team and second-highest ranked SEC team in the poll. To my surprise, and I am sure to many of you, the Lady Bulldogs were picked to finish 5th in the SEC Preseason Coaches poll.

Perhaps the collection of conference basketball minds was correct in predicting that our team did not deserve such high praise and national ranking. In my opinion, the loss to South Florida is shocking but not surprising.

The Lady Bulls are the favorite to win the American Conference, and the fact that they are still unranked after taking one of two games from Top 10 teams is surprising.

Our Lady Bulldogs will bounce back from this first setback in the McCray-Penson era. Take a look at my grades for the Lady Bulldogs’ first three games.

Offense

If I graded the Lady Bulldogs’ offense on their first two games, the grade would definitely be an A+. The Lady Bulldogs were supposed to dominate Jackson State and New Orleans due to the talent gap.

Perhaps the fourth quarter against Jackson State, where the Lady Bulldogs were outscored 25-14, was a prequel of possible struggles. The Lady Bulldogs had no such struggles against New Orleans.

The Sky fell for the Lady Bulldogs in the second quarter and overtime in Tampa. Mississippi State’s offensive performance against South Florida is definitely one I want to forget. I will not repeat those stats, and if you want to review them, you can here.

I can only hope that Coach McCray-Penson rights the ship and preaches better shot selection and ball security going forward. Mississippi State turned the ball over too much and squandered crucial offensive possessions with low percentage shots against South Florida. The free-throw shooting definitely needs to improve.

Defense

The Lady Bulldog defense was unable to stop South Florida when it mattered most. The Lady Bulls attempted fourteen more shots than Mississippi State. That stat means South Florida outhustled Mississippi State on the offensive glass, contributing to twenty-five-second chance points.

Maria Alvarez got open to hit three of six three-pointers before she eventually fouled out. The Lady Bulldogs also got into heavy foul trouble, and Jessika Carter fouled out. The Lady Bulldogs’ lack of roster depth also plays a part as teams will look to wear them down with their full roster of players.

Overall

The Mississippi State Basketball Lady Bulldogs will bounce back from the performance against South Florida. There is too much talent on this team for them not to.

The Lady Bulldogs must show improvement across the board but most importantly offensively. If the shooting performances do not improve immediately, we could be in for a very long season, especially if we have several repeat performances like last Saturday.