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State cruises past UT-Pan Am ahead of South Padre trip |
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Wednesday, 25 November 2009 |
By MATTHEW STEVENS
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Turns out Rick Stansbury was right, his team was better – it just took them till halftime to figure that out.
Mississippi State got a big run to start the second-half and post a less-than comfortable 75-50 win over Texas-Pan American Tuesday evening.
“It’s very obvious you can see it, we don’t have a whole lot of rhythm yet consistently offensively,” Stansbury said.
The Bulldogs head basketball coach spent just seconds of his weekly media conference discussing his opponent almost addressing the contest as a tune-up before his squad boarded a plane for Texas to play in the South Padre Island Invitational.
“We’re better than Texas-Pan American, that’s the way that game is,” Stansbury said Monday.
MSU’s tune-up turned into something completely different for the first 20 minutes.
Nine turnovers and a lackluster defensive effort in the first half led to a quiet Humphrey Coliseum crowd of 3,214 as Mississippi State (3-1) went into the locker room with only a 42-33 lead over a team that was 317th (out of 334) in the Ratings Percentage Index last year.
“In the first half we felt like we let them score a little too much,” sophomore forward Romero Osby said. “Not to downgrade that team but if we plan on beating Missouri (in the South Padre Invitational), Missouri beat them 100-46 .”
The Bulldogs could possibly see the Tigers (3-0), who made it to the Elite Eight of last year’s tournament, in the Saturday final of the four-team South Padre Invitational.
“I like going on the road, that’s what you find out what you really got,” Stansbury said. “It’ll be a test for us for sure.”
An 18-6 run over the first nine minutes after halftime not only left no doubt as to the outcome but was the first time the coaching staff saw solid execution of the up-and-down style that helped the Bulldogs win 23 games last years.
“In transition we’re playing too fast,” Stansbury said. “I don’t mean we’re running too fast, I mean our minds are going too fast. Just got to slow down and not press as much.”
Mississippi State senior forward Jarvis Varnado led all players in rebounds (15) along with blocks (8) as the Wooden Award candidate ended the night with the 18th career double-double with 12 points as well.
“It was kind of slow at first but we got the team fired up and ready to play in the second half,” Varnado said.
After only matching the Broncs (0-5) inside production through 20 minutes, MSU got 10 of its first 16 points of the second half in the paint. The Bulldogs outscored Pan American 20-4 inside the lane to finish the game.
“We got out in transition and ran well,” Varnado said. “The guards were looking for us. Everybody just slowed down and we got easy buckets.”
Sophomore guard Dee Bost led MSU in scoring with 13 points. Senior guard Barry Stewart and junior Ravern Johnson had double-figures with 12 and 11 respectively.
Mississippi State junior forward Kodi Augustus made his return to the floor after his two-game suspension to add nine points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes. Augustus did not start, Stansbury instead went with junior guard Phil Turner for a third-straight game, but the 6-foot-8 forward checked into the game after the first media timeout.
“He didn’t try to force things tonight,” Stansbury said. “There’s things with Kodi you want to do than you do with Phil Turner out there that we need to do. We’ve got to get some easy baskets around that hole.”
Texas-Pan American didn’t have a single player in double-figures but forward Luis Valera and guard Nick Weiermiller finished with eight. Stansbury mentioned how the Broncs were the final low-major program on the Bulldogs schedule as they will face Richmond on Friday at 5 p.m.
The Spiders (4-1) run a half-court style of play with a lot of Princeton principles in their offensive scheme led by junior guard Kevin Anderson.
“You’ll can see those back cuts already can’t you?” Stansbury said. “Trust me, they’ll be some of them.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 November 2009 )
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