While Ole Miss was busy beating a previously unbeaten-in-conference Kentucky team on Tuesday, Mississippi State was sitting and watching.
After not taking the court for a week, the Bulldogs will return to action at Humphrey Coliseum for a noon game today with the Rebels.
While Ole Miss may be a little more confident following the Kentucky win, State will be rested. But Rick Stansbury isn?t one to always think that time off is a good thing considering he is a creature of habit.
?Of course, you want to stay on that routine and have a game on Tuesday or Wednesday because you don?t want to loose that conditioning the midweek game gives you,? Stansbury said. ?But I think the important thing it gives you is a little mental rest.
?Mentally we didn?t have to prepare for a team on Tuesday or earlier in the week.? That resulted in Stansbury and his staff not having to rush the scouting report portion of practice this week. Instead the squad could focus on itself in order to tweak the little things while worrying about execution.
A few of the players admitted practices were ratcheted up a little over the course of the week, and that the team made up for conditioning because it didn?t have a midweek game.
All of it was, of course, to get ready for Ole Miss.
?This is, obviously, a situation in which we?ll have our work cut out for us,? Stansbury said. ?Ole Miss is playing extremely well, Andy?s (Kennedy) got them playing together and they got a great rhythm playing eight guys.
?Everybody on that team knows where they?re going to play and when they?re going to play.?
Against Kentucky, Kennedy?s team did go eight players deep. Outside of the starting five ? which was highlighted by a trio of players including Malcolm White, Terrico White and David Huertas ? the Rebels were spelled significantly by just Murphy Holloway, Will Bogan and Terrance Henry.
Off the bench, Ole Miss only scored five points, which all came from Holloway.
That led the bulk of the scoring to fall on the shoulders of Terrico White and Huertas, who each had 21 points, along with Malcolm White who added 20 points.
The only other Ole Miss player to reach double digits was Graham, who had 11. The final starter was DeAundre Cranston, who had just five points.
Terrico White and Huertas led the Ole Miss attack from the outside, and Malcolm White is an athletic forward for Kennedy.
While Stansbury thought one reason Ole Miss was successful against Kentucky was shooting ? the Rebels made 10 3-pointers ? the more important reason to him was defense.
?I really thought, No. 1, they did a great job defensively,? Stansbury said. ?You look at their guys on the perimeter, those guys are big and they did a great job on (Kentucky?s Jody) Meeks.
?With (Terrico) White, Cranston and Holloway they got some thickness and some athleticism.?
That will lead to a matchup against State?s four-guard starting lineup, or if Stansbury chooses a bigger lineup from off the bench.
That second option that now includes senior power forward Brian Johnson to go along with Elgin Bailey and Romero Osby.
That secondary package gives State another way to score, and another worry for Kennedy.
?They?re versatility is one of their strengths, they can do a number of things,? Kennedy said. ?You look up and they got eight or nine guys who (Stansbury) can have out there playing at a high level.
?That is obviously challenging from a scouting standpoint.?
After not taking the court for a week, the Bulldogs will return to action at Humphrey Coliseum for a noon game today with the Rebels.
While Ole Miss may be a little more confident following the Kentucky win, State will be rested. But Rick Stansbury isn?t one to always think that time off is a good thing considering he is a creature of habit.
?Of course, you want to stay on that routine and have a game on Tuesday or Wednesday because you don?t want to loose that conditioning the midweek game gives you,? Stansbury said. ?But I think the important thing it gives you is a little mental rest.
?Mentally we didn?t have to prepare for a team on Tuesday or earlier in the week.? That resulted in Stansbury and his staff not having to rush the scouting report portion of practice this week. Instead the squad could focus on itself in order to tweak the little things while worrying about execution.
A few of the players admitted practices were ratcheted up a little over the course of the week, and that the team made up for conditioning because it didn?t have a midweek game.
All of it was, of course, to get ready for Ole Miss.
?This is, obviously, a situation in which we?ll have our work cut out for us,? Stansbury said. ?Ole Miss is playing extremely well, Andy?s (Kennedy) got them playing together and they got a great rhythm playing eight guys.
?Everybody on that team knows where they?re going to play and when they?re going to play.?
Against Kentucky, Kennedy?s team did go eight players deep. Outside of the starting five ? which was highlighted by a trio of players including Malcolm White, Terrico White and David Huertas ? the Rebels were spelled significantly by just Murphy Holloway, Will Bogan and Terrance Henry.
Off the bench, Ole Miss only scored five points, which all came from Holloway.
That led the bulk of the scoring to fall on the shoulders of Terrico White and Huertas, who each had 21 points, along with Malcolm White who added 20 points.
The only other Ole Miss player to reach double digits was Graham, who had 11. The final starter was DeAundre Cranston, who had just five points.
Terrico White and Huertas led the Ole Miss attack from the outside, and Malcolm White is an athletic forward for Kennedy.
While Stansbury thought one reason Ole Miss was successful against Kentucky was shooting ? the Rebels made 10 3-pointers ? the more important reason to him was defense.
?I really thought, No. 1, they did a great job defensively,? Stansbury said. ?You look at their guys on the perimeter, those guys are big and they did a great job on (Kentucky?s Jody) Meeks.
?With (Terrico) White, Cranston and Holloway they got some thickness and some athleticism.?
That will lead to a matchup against State?s four-guard starting lineup, or if Stansbury chooses a bigger lineup from off the bench.
That second option that now includes senior power forward Brian Johnson to go along with Elgin Bailey and Romero Osby.
That secondary package gives State another way to score, and another worry for Kennedy.
?They?re versatility is one of their strengths, they can do a number of things,? Kennedy said. ?You look up and they got eight or nine guys who (Stansbury) can have out there playing at a high level.
?That is obviously challenging from a scouting standpoint.?
