STARKVILLE — Rodney Hood sat down to watch the tape of Mississippi State’s 69-57 loss at Florida this past week in Gainesville and almost couldn’t recognize the player wear No. 4 for the Bulldogs.
“I watched the replay of the Florida game and I was very disappointed in the way I played,” Hood said. “I didn’t have a bad game but I could have been more assertive.”
When both teams headed to the locker room for the halftime break, Hood had not scored and only taken one shot in 19 minutes of action. It’s this type of passive behavior on the offensive end that can not occur during the final two months of a critical stretch run for the 21st-ranked Bulldogs (17-5, 4-3 in Southeastern Conference).
“To shoot one shot at half is not acceptable,” Hood said. “I’ve just got to be more aggressive for my team.”
One of the reasons for Hood’s less than stellar offensive play, where he’s only had double figures in two of the last six contests, is the inevitable “freshman wall” that first-year players normally hit after already exceeding their total for games played in a season. In addition to the grinding schedule of 22 games in three months, Hood is third in the league in minutes played per game (35.7).
Unfortunately for MSU, the minutes played per game statistic also makes him third on the team behind Dee Bost and Arnett Moultrie.
“I think the biggest thing we’ve got to do is we’ve got to be able to keep our energy level where it’s got to be,” MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said.
“That’s a combination of a couple of things: we have to be smart as coaches from the standpoint of fatigue and we got to be smart about what demands we put on them from a mental standpoint. Right now, I don’t want to put a lot of pressure on them mentally right now. I don’t want to practice where we’re brow-beating them with things.”
The Bulldogs will get a chance to revisit their depth issues and try to come up with a way to handle finding breathers for their three offensive stars as Auburn (13-9, 3-5) comes to Humphrey Coliseum (3 p.m., SEC Network).
“The break came at a good time,” MSU senior guard Brian Bryant said. “We needed to get our legs back under us.”
Auburn is led in scoring by wing players Frankie Sullivan and Kenny Gabriel at 11.9 and 11.8 points, respectively.
The Tigers, under second-year coach Tony Barbee, have had trouble finding ways to put the basketball in the hoop as they sit tenth in the SEC in scoring average (63.6 per game) but are 11-1 when they reach the 60-point plateau. Auburn opened the SEC season by scoring 35 points at Vanderbilt and then struggled to reach 44 points in a loss at Tennessee two weeks ago.
“Auburn has been a scrappy team that’s starting to play well,” Stansbury said. “At Arkansas, they had a shot to win at the end, and we all know how difficult of a place that is to play.”
Moultrie, who leads MSU in points and rebounds (16.8 points, 11.3 rebound) is first in the SEC in doubles with 13.
The 6-foot-10 forward was also a recruit of former UTEP head coach and current Auburn coach Tony Barbee. Moultrie had 9.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 62 total blocked shots for the Miners’ program that qualified for the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago.
“Out of high school he was always a versatile 6-foot-10 player and those types of players, especially along the baseline, are hard to guard at our level,” Barbee said. “They really translate into NBA players as well. Happy for Arnett’s success.”
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