STARKVILLE — It’s possible Mississippi State’s senior point guard Dee Bost should come to Humphrey Coliseum this week was a two-word sign literally hanging from him — help wanted.
Brian Bryant, who is not only Bost’s guard teammate and roommate on campus and on the road, said he doesn’t have to see the tape of MSU’s 98-88 loss at Arkansas to see where the 20th-ranked Bulldogs went wrong. It’s already been discussed in a closed-door meeting between the two friends.
“We just didn’t have no energy through our guard positions,” Bryant said Tuesday. “We talked after the game that we need to come in and have a good defensive practice, just for the guards to help out our bigs. We feel like we put a lot of pressure on (Renardo) Sidney and Arnett (Moultrie) as (far as) the guards getting to the rim, and that’s how they were getting their fouls.”
Bryant, who along with sophomore Jalen Steele as the shooting guard combination for MSU, has scored 14 total points over his last three games with nine rebounds. Steele has had no conversions from beyond the three-point arc in either of his last two games. However, it’s the little things that don’t show up on the box score that the two perimeter threats for MSU have focused on this week.
“We’ve got to handle the ball more,” Bryant said. “We had too many careless turnovers. We’ve just got to play better defense, because to me I really don’t think I have to score as much, just play defense and rebound, all the little things.”
In a year where Stansbury was convinced his guard depth would be able to give Bost either the rest he needs to perform in the critical second-half stretch of tight games or reduce the energy he uses being the primary ball-handler and team leader, neither of those things have been true in the last three games for the Bulldogs. This trend signals a glaring weakness to any future opponent to force MSU to beat them off the dribble with somebody other than the SEC preseason first-team selection.
“Dee needs a blow,” MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. “DeVille (Smith) is a guy that can help with that. He doesn’t need help bringing the ball up the court. He can do that against anybody in the country. We need to rest Dee some more and get Dee and DeVille on the court some more together.”
Smith, a freshman point guard from Jackson who led MSU in scoring in Fayetteville Saturday with 25 points, is a player Bost mentioned Tuesday as a key factor to getting the Bulldogs back to playing in a up-tempo style that creates offensive freedom and easy baskets.
“We got to get him back playing like he did in New York (during the 2K Classic that MSU won this year at Madison Square Garden),” Bost said.
Stansbury said the frantic pace of Arkansas coach Mike Anderson’s pressure defense allowed Smith the kind of style that best suits him but teams like tonight’s opponent Tennessee will be much-more structured and half-court oriented with the 5-foot-10 guard from Callaway High School.
“I want to get to a point where we can bring him in and we feel comfortable with him, where you can get some consistency from him offensively and defensive,” Stansbury said. “Where you can make a few adjustments, continue to make those adjustments with him. I think that’s our challenge with him. Different kind of defenses, man or zone or different kind of zones, require different types of attacks. You have to adjust to that on the fly.”
The inside-out combination of Bost and Arnett Moultrie, who are fourth and fifth in the SEC in scoring at 16.2 points each is going to be a major focus for Tennessee as they come to Humphrey Coliseum tonight (8 p.m., ESPN2)
“Dee is a quick point guard, physical, he scores it,” Volunteers head coach Cuonzo Martin said. “He’s 6-2, gets to the rim and shoots the three-point shot while Moultrie demands a double-team on the blocks and is a physical presence. It’s one of those deals where you have to get him off the blocks; you can’t let him get in a rhythm. But when a shot a shot goes up, you’ve still got to keep him off the glass.”
The player on the perimeter that stands up to the challenge of being another option offensive could be the primary reason to which direction Mississippi State (13-3, 0-1 in SEC) goes in the Southeastern Conference standings this season.
“It’s a 15 game season now and we can’t let one loss cause another loss,” Stansbury said. “I don’t expect them to be happy because I’m not happy. Don’t expect them to be in a rah rah mood, be disappointed in them if they were. You go to work. Effort hasn’t been a problem on this team.”
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