(Photo from Miss. State Athletics)
- Ole Miss can still have a special regular season, but now it’s harder. The remaining schedule is unkind.
The talking heads made mention of two in-state schools competing and how that stirs the juices when Mississippi State and Ole Miss play basketball.
It’s not easy filling 2 ½ hours of air time, and the rivalry is always part of the discussion.
It just doesn’t mean nearly as much to the players and coaches as it once did. It means even less in the Transfer Portal Era, and it wasn’t a big motivator in the Bulldogs’ 81-71 win at Ole Miss Saturday night as State completed a season sweep of the Rebels.
I make that contention even though third-year Bulldogs coach Chris Jans has now won six out of seven in this series.
There are a handful of Mississippi kids around – three of them impacted play Saturday night – but roster-building far exceeds state boundaries and has for years. Before the portal, however, players jumped around less and more were exposed to the rivalry for longer periods of time, for more games, and would come to appreciate its significance to fans with mortgages.
Truth be told, maroon and white homeowners aren’t concerned with motivation now.
The Bulldogs needed a win to strengthen their NCAA Tournament resume. The Rebels have done some really good resume work so far, but the toughest part of their schedule remains out in front.
State, now 18-7, 6-6 in SEC play, needed the win for numbers but more importantly from a confidence standpoint.
This team that started so strong with decisive non-conference wins against Pittsburgh and Memphis, has been beaten handily in four of its conference losses, competitive for stretches in some of those games but not to the finish line.
More physical Bulldogs
That wasn’t the case in Oxford as the Bulldogs showed their physicality in the paint. When they got the ball down close, sometimes with advantage position sometimes not, they finished at the rim.
The rebounding weakness that has plagued the Rebels all year plagued them again. Ole Miss gave up 16 second-chance points and was minus-12 on the glass, a ghastly figure but an improvement from minus-22 in an 84-81 overtime loss in Starkville earlier this season.
Each team minimized to a degree the other’s best scorer.
State’s Josh Hubbard was 6 for 6 from the free throw line but 3 for 13 from the floor. He finished with 14 points.
Ole Miss’ Sean Pedulla had 13 points but just one bucket inside the arc. State’s physicality left him ineffective at the rim and mostly away from the free throw line.
Indeed, Hubbard’s ability to get to the free throw line more than Pedulla was another marker of State’s physicality compared to Ole Miss.
Pedulla’s 3-for-10 effort from 3 wasn’t his best and was indicative of a larger problem for Ole Miss.
If the Rebels aren’t hot from outside they’re in trouble. Sometimes that works, like it did against Kentucky, but when it doesn’t the lack of dominant inside play leaves them vulnerable.
It also leaves them inconsistent.
A post-up option gives you a better chance to get to the free throw line in those game-deciding minutes.
In a baseball conversation you would say good pitching beats good hitting. So it is with post play vs. 3-point shooting.
Without that consistent post play, that physicality inside, Ole Miss let a big win get away at home against Texas A&M and was further exposed Saturday night as it was in the first game against State on Jan. 18.
This is a problem, but in spite of it, the Rebels have won big games this season.
When successful they’ve off-set bad rebounding by protecting the ball – not so much Saturday night – and by forcing turnovers.
They’ve cobbled together an impressive schedule with the chance to not just meet the goal of an NCAA Tournament berth but to get to the conference tournament with the security of knowing they’re well within the NCAA field, playing for seeding not for hope.
The Rebels’ NCAA teams I covered in 2013, 2015 and 2019 couldn’t say that.
As March comes into view, you are what you are, and these Rebels aren’t likely to find a more physical version of themselves.
Tough stretch for Rebels
Ole Miss can still have a special regular season, but now it’s harder. The remaining schedule is unkind.
There are five games left, and Ole Miss has road trips to improving Vanderbilt, No. 1 Auburn and No. 3 Florida.
The home games are Oklahoma and No. 5 Tennessee.
State has gotten Auburn, Florida and Tennessee out of the way but still must navigate No. 2 Alabama and No. 8 Texas A&M.
The Rebels have caught the nation’s attention enough to rise and fall in the rankings. If they don’t find another win or two in this imposing stretch they’ll become that March Madness hopeful for whom the talking heads say, “Yeah, but they haven’t finished strong.”
It’s been speculated that eight wins in the nation’s No. 1 conference will be enough for an at-large bid, but that’s not a theory Ole Miss wants to test.
