Mississippi State basketball: 3 observations from loss to Miami
By Ethan Lee
Sam Purcell’s Mississippi State basketball team fell for the first time this season. Here’s what we noticed in the Bulldogs’ loss.
For the first time this season, Sam Purcell and the Mississippi State women’s basketball team fell short. The Bulldogs didn’t look bad as they hosted the Miami Hurricanes and it was a close game throughout.
MSU ended up falling 74-68. Again, that’s really not that bad. There were some things to be pretty proud of, like how Lauren Park-Lane played. And then there were concerning aspects of this game, like how the Bulldogs had to rely on seven players in its rotation.
Here are three observations from the game:
Mississippi State basketball vs. Miami Hurricanes: 3 observations in home loss
Miami’s three point shooting improved while the Bulldogs got worse
Three point shooting really helped the Bulldogs through much of this game, but things didn’t end up going according to plan for MSU. And while Mississippi State was managed to make 54 percent of its first half three point attempts, the Bulldogs only made 29 percent of their second half three point attempts.
Meanwhile, Miami started the game with an uninspiring three point shooting percentage, going 2-7 in the first quarter and then 2-4 in the second quarter (36 percent in the first half). But in the second half? Well, the Hurricanes went 7-11 (64 percent) and that’s not an insignificant difference.
Miami’s depth overwhelmed the Bulldogs
The Bulldogs didn’t have the depth to keep up with Miami in this game. Due to some injury issues and the fact that MSU is in just its second year of this rebuild project for Sam Purcell, Miami had a much deeper amount of talent to work with. And so that’s why the Hurricanes had 10 players get out on the court while MSU had just 7. The Hurricanes had 45 bench points. MSU had nine.
Rebounding killed MSU’s chances of winning in this game
One of the biggest difference makers in this game is how Miami dominated on the boards. The Hurricanes outrebounded Mississippi State 49-23 overall and 18-5 with offensive rebounds. Big shocker in how that led to a 15-5 difference in second chance points between these two teams. Mississippi State will need to find a way to get rebounds while the Bulldogs deal with injury issues.