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Thursday, 18 December 2008 |
By AARON SEIDLITZ
Starkville Daily News
Mississippi State’s basketball team has its head coach back.
Since Sunday night Rick Stansbury has been in the hospital with what was diagnosed as a viral infection. He initially went in to Oktibbeha County Hospital after complaining of severe migraines and flu-like symptoms.
The coach was then transported to Northeast Mississippi Medical Center, but on Wednesday he was released and cleared to make the trip to Cincinnati for tonight’s game with the Bearcats (7-2).
The Bulldogs (7-3) weren’t sure as late as Tuesday if Stansbury was going to make it to Cincinnati for the 5:30 tip off in the SEC/Big East Challenge match up at U.S. Bank Arena.
The team practiced without him throughout the week, and tape of the Bearcats and the Bulldogs was rushed back and forth from Tupelo so Stansbury could do his scouting and preparing.
Associate head coach Robert Kirby was placed in charge of the team in practice when the head coach was absent, and the team began to focus on a Bearcats team that, like State, is looking for its first win versus a power-conference opponent.
On Tuesday, Kirby answered questions about the team his Bulldogs were prepping for, and a couple things stood out to him about Cincinnati.
“A very tough (team) with a physical presence on the inside,” Kirby said. “They’re very big, and they have a very, very good point guard that actually acts as a (shooting guard).
“He’s a point until he passes the ball, and then once he passes the ball he’s a 2-guard. He’s probably the best, if not one of the best, guards we’ve faced all year.”
The guard Kirby spoke about is Deonta Vaughn, a junior who leads the Bearcats in scoring with 14.6 points per game. He plays more minutes than anyone on State’s roster, he hits about 35 percent of this 3-point attempts, collects 3.7 rebounds per game and dishes out 4.6 assists per game.
His presence has helped pace Cincinnati against the likes of South Dakota, Texas Southern, Western Illinois, Coastal Carolina and Charleston Southern in blowout wins. But games became closer against stiffer competition this season for the Bearcats.
They beat UNLV by only two points, UAB by seven and had losses to Xavier and Florida State in their last five games.
The Bulldogs, on the other hand, have just gotten their coach back and haven’t had any success against power-conference opponents either.
State lost both of its final two games in the Legends Classic, when it took on Texas Tech and Washington State.
The team now also has to overcome a sprained left wrist that kept starting shooting guard Barry Stewart out of practice this week, at least before leaving for Cincinnati on Wednesday.
Still, Kirby points to the effort the team showed in its 19-point win over South Alabama – a team that beat the Bulldogs in Mobile a year ago – as a sign of things to come. It was important, Kirby thought, that the team showed that kind of effort on Saturday after being beaten at home for the first time in 2008 by Charlotte last Wednesday.
“They came around and responded in a positive manner, and that’s what you look for in your team,” Kirby said. “You look for guys to respond in a positive manner.
“We look for positives in that ball game and then watched a lot of video the last couple of days.”
The positives that could be drawn from that included the energy new starting guard Phil Turner brought to the table. State went small by adding Turner to the starting lineup and taking out power forward Kodi Augustus.
Just what starting five Stansbury will utilize against Cincinnati is still a mystery because of the Stewart injury.
But the team did work, Kirby said, with a big lineup and a small lineup in practice this week. He said Riley Benock can slide in to the rotation at the two guard, or Twany Beckham can be used more at the point when the Dogs move Dee Bost off the ball.
If the team decides to go back to a big lineup, Augustus and freshman Romero Osby have been getting the bulk of the minutes at the power forward position this season.
One thing the team does believe in is that the depth they have can be utilized in situations like this.
“This team’s got a lot of depth on it. You got Riley and Phil, who stepped in the other night and gave us some energy, so I think we got some guys.” Stewart said.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 19 December 2008 )
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