Kentucky vs Mississippi St.......A Preview

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Mississippi State...A Preview
2/16/10 Tuesday at 9PMEST/8PMCST (ESPN)

Mississippi State

Location-Starkville, Miss.
Enrollment-17,039
Arena-10,500

Head Coach-Rick Stansbury
Career Record-231-128 (64.0%) 11 seasons
All at Mississippi St.

2008-09 Record-23-13
2008-09 SEC Record-9-7
2008-09 Post-season-NCAA-0-1

2009-10 Record-18-7
2009-10 SEC Record-6-4

Rider 88 Miss. St. 74
Miss. St. 82 SE Louisiana 67
Miss. St. 67 Bethune-Cookman51
Miss. St. 75 Texas-Pan American 50
Richmond 63 Miss. St. 62
Miss. St. 69 Old Dominion 55
Miss. St. 105 St. Bonaventure 53
Miss. St. 76 DePaul 45
Miss. St. 72 UCLA 54
Miss. St. 80 Wright St. 69
Miss. St. 70 Houston 64
Miss. St. 88 Centenary 51
Miss. St. 73 Miss. Valley St. 45
Miss. St. 77 San Diego 68
Western Ky. 55 Miss. St. 52
Miss St. 80 Ole Miss 75
Miss. St. 82 Arkansas 80
Alabama 62 Miss. St. 57
Arkansas 67 Miss. St. 62
Miss. St. 67 LSU 51
Vanderbilt 75 Miss. St. 72
Florida 69 Miss. St. 62
Miss. St. 71 Ole Miss 63
Miss. St 85 Auburn 75 (OT)

Miss. St. Stats / UK Stats

PPG-73.3 / 81.3
FG%-43.4% / 48.6%
3 Point%-36.5% / 37.8%
FT%-68.0% / 67.8%
Rebounds-41.4 / 42.2
Assists-12.6 / 15.6
TO’s-13.3 / 15.3
Steals-5.7 / 7.3
Blocks-8.2 / 7.0
Probable Starting Lineup

Kodi Augustus F-6’8” Jr. (PPG-8.8)
Jarvis Varnado F-6’9” Sr. (PPG-13.3)
Ravern Johnson G/F 6’7” Jr. (PPG-13.7)
Dee Bost G-6’2” Soph. (PPG-12.0)
Barry Stewart G 6’2” Sr. (PPG-11.4)

Other Key Players

Phil Turner G-6’3” Jr.. (PPG-6.0)
Romero Osby F-6’8” Soph. (PPG-5.1)

Mississippi St. returns all 5 starters from last season including senior Jarvis Varnado….the human fly swatter. Coach Rick Stansbury has been at Starkville for 11 years and had the Bulldogs in the NCAA 6 times. After suffering early season disappointing losses to Rider and Richmond, Miss. St. has had an overall good preseason. With the exception of the opening loss to Rider at home, the Bulldogs have won every home game since….for an 11-1 record on their home court. It’s been the road games in the SEC that have been difficult for Miss. St…..as all 4 losses in the SEC have come on the road.

The Bulldogs have 4 starters scoring in double figures…led by Ravern Johnson at 13.7 PPG and Jarvis Varnado at 13.3 PPG. Importantly, both Johnson and Varnado are hitting over 50% from the field. Johnson is the team’s leading 3 point shooter….hitting 65-151 for an excellent 43.0% from the perimeter…..while Varnado leads the Bulldogs in rebounds with 11.3 per game. However, what sets Varnado apart from other centers is his incredible shot blocking ability. He has surpassed Shaquille O’Neal as the all time leading shot blocker in SEC history. This season, thus far, Varnado has an amazing 125 block shots….while UK’s leading shot blocker….DeMarcus Cousins…has 44 blocked shots. Dee Bost and Barry Stewart both shoot a lot of 3 point shots….and are hitting a solid 34.1% and 36.4% respectively. Bost leads the team in assists with 130 or a very good 5.2 per game.

Mississippi St. is a veteran team starting 2 seniors, 2 juniors and a sophomore….they have proven to be exceedingly tough on their home court….11-1 over at home and 5-0 in the SEC. The Bulldogs will be a very tough team to beat in Starkville.

UK arrives in Starkville with a big win over 12th ranked Tennessee at ESPN Gameday in Lexington. The Cats are now 24-1 and lead the SEC East with a 9-1 record. UK found the Vols zone a tough nut to crack and certainly the Tennessee game plan of running the shot clock down and slowing the Cats down worked for ¾ of the game. It is always frustrating for UK’s speedy freshmen to have to deal with half court delay zones, but they are likely to face this strategy frequently in future games. Importantly, super guards Wall and Bledsoe took the game over in the final 10 minutes with Wall getting a number of key baskets and Bledsoe nailing 2 critical 3 pointers. Wall totaled 24 points and Bledsoe pitched in 16 points…..great job by both guards. Hats off to DeAndre Liggins for another great game off the bench….Liggins contributed 7 points…4 rebounds….4 assists….and 2 big steals….while continuing to play terrific defense! DeMarcus Cousins had an off game offensively….missed 7-8 free throws…..but, importantly, the big fella hauled down 12 rebounds. Poor free throw shooting continues to be a serious problem….with UK hitting only 18-30….that’s two straight games UK has hit a very poor 60% from the charity line. Needless to say, in close remaining SEC games and certainly in the NCAA…..shooting only 60% from the free throw line could easily cost the Cats games.

UK now embarks on their final 6 SEC regular season games….4 of which are on the road….and all promise to be huge challenges. It starts Tuesday against a veteran Bulldog team that rarely losses at home. Miss. St. averages nearly 25 perimeter shots per game and they shoot a very decent 36.5%. The Cats will need to do a solid job in defending the 3 point shot…..while minimizing TO’s. UK is virtually down to a 7 player rotation as Darius Miller’s minutes continue to erode. It’s now Liggins and Orton who garner almost all the bench minutes.

I see a very focused UK team that plays a solid game in Starkville and wins number 25 by 8-10 points. GO CATS!