The Mississippi State Bulldogs suffered a bad loss Saturday afternoon at The Humphrey Coliseum. losing 70-68 to Georgia in overtime.
Here are four questions that have to be answered about the loss. (For a Georgia perspective, go here)
1) What does this loss to do Mississippi State's postseason?
First of all, I doubt this loss takes Mississippi State out of NCAA contention, but it does them no favors in the seeding department. The Bulldogs only have one real opportunity until the SEC tournament to help their seeding, and that is their match-up against Kentucky. Mississippi State needs to keep that one close (or win) and win their others to stay in the top half of a region. With any other upset losses, the Bulldogs may be looking at a 9-11 seed.
The more pressing question is what does this do to Mississippi State in the SEC tournament. Only the top four teams get a first round bye in New Orleans, and a bye would be very beneficial to the Bulldogs. With two road games next week (LSU and Auburn) and a home date with Kentucky the next week, the Bulldogs will have to play tough to stay in the top four.
2) What happened to Arnett Moultrie?
Moultrie, the most dominate player on the MSU side, only shot the ball six times Saturday. This was in a game where he should have had a mismatch against the Georgia defense most of the game. In fact, half of those shots came off of offensive rebounds, not plays designed to get him the ball. The Bulldogs started jacking up too many threes and long jumpers, getting away from what wins them ball games.
3) Did we see a new Renardo Sidney?
Did Sid make a few boneheaded plays? Of course he did! He took a questionable three point shot, and he found himself guarding air a few times. However, he played 35 minutes and came away with a double-double. The announcers took their fair share of shots against him, but without his effort, Mississippi State would have been run out of The Hump today.
4) What happened to the bench for the Bulldogs?
We all know that MSU has had depth problems this year, and it looks like the Bulldogs are finally getting enough bodies back to build some sort of rotation. However, those players coming in have to produce. Jalen Steele did by scoring 15 points. Wendell Lewis and Shuan Smith combined for 2 points. Brian Bryant, a starter, also left with a goose egg in the points column. (Stats here)