The Mississippi State basketball team loses its first SEC game of the 2022-2023 season.
The Mississippi State basketball team was defeated by the Alabama Crimson Tide, 78-67. The Mississippi State Bulldogs could not seem to hold off the Crimson Tide in the second half.
Here are my early post-game thoughts:
Missed free throws cost the Bulldogs a close game in the final minutes.
The Mississippi State basketball team shot 18/36 from the free throw line tonight vs. the Alabama Crimson Tide. That is 50%. Shooting 50% from the free throw line will not allow Mississippi State to win big SEC games. I am not saying that the Mississippi State Bulldogs would have won the game if they were 85% from the free throw line, but I am saying the final minutes would have been electric at the Humphrey Coliseum.
Mississippi State does not have a single consistent offensive playmaker.
Tolu Smith could be that guy for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, but teams are going to come into every game trying to shut him down. After Smith, there is not a single player on Mississippi State’s team that is a consistent shooter.
If Tolu Smith is off, the Mississippi State Bulldogs are off.
Tolu Smith finished tonight’s game with 5 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist. The Alabama basketball team had a game plan coming into Starkville, Mississippi. That game plan was to stop Tolu Smith, and they did just that. Smith has to dominate the paint for the Bulldogs to be a real top-25 basketball team.
This Mississippi State basketball team could compete with the big boys if they find some sort of consistent offense.
Even though the score may look like the Mississippi State Bulldogs were dominated, that was not truly the case. Chris Jans kept this team in this game for most of the game, but the Bulldogs could not find that offensive run they so desperately needed.