Mississippi State basketball: 3 questions after loss vs. Miami

Sam Purcell and his Mississippi State basketball team came close against Miami, but the Bulldogs came up short. Now I have questions.

Wednesday evening’s Mississippi State basketball game didn’t exactly go according to plan for Sam Purcell and his MSU Bulldogs. When facing a much deeper Miami Hurricanes team, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team came close, but the Bulldogs definitely came up short late in the game.

It was thrilling to keep up with the Bulldogs in this contest and for a while it really seemed like MSU might be able to pull off an unlikely win thanks to the way the Bulldogs were shooting the ball from three.

But it didn’t work out. State lost 74-68. Closer than it could’ve been, but disappointing to see nonetheless.

And I have some questions after the loss.

3 questions after Mississippi State basketball loss to the Miami Hurricanes

So, let’s just jump in.

Can Mississippi State hold up while it waits for key players to recover?

Last night wasn’t great for the Bulldogs from a depth perspective. With key players like Jessika Carter, Erryn Barnum, and Nir Nir Montague all out, the Bulldogs were depleted in terms of depth. And that led to a seven player rotation against a really respectable Miami Hurricanes team.

Which, well, you don’t want to rely on just having seven players in your rotation for long periods of time if you can avoid it. Mississippi State would probably like to sub in more players off the bench and keep its players a little more rested and refreshed, but that’s apparently something they couldn’t afford to do against Miami.

And that’s not ideal.

There’s not an easy fix to that. It just requires a bit of patience and creativity and hopefully Purcell can help guide his team through some rough waters while the Bulldogs try to keep moving despite not having some players.

Can the Bulldogs find a way to get more points from bench?

Okay, well, this is easier said than done when you’re running with a seven player rotation. Just from a practicality standpoint, it’d be hard to try and generate a ton of offense from players off the bench when your bench is just that small.

So I don’t think this is really all that feasible right now. I don’t see how it is. It’s probably part of that patience and creativity thing I was just rambling about.

But scoring more than nine points off the bench would be nice!

Can Lauren Park-Lane continue to play like that?

While the Bulldogs are without some of those key players and there’s not much depth or production from the Bulldogs’ bench, will Lauren Park-Lane be able to continue playing at the incredible level she was performing at against the Miami Hurricanes.

Playing 39 minutes and recording a double-double with 20 points and 10 assists against Miami is really something special.

But is it sustainable?

If it’s not going to be Park-Lane, will we see someone else step up for the Mississippi State Bulldogs while we wait for injuries and illnesses to resolve themselves? I guess we’ll wait and see.