STARKVILLE — After listening to Mississippi State University men’s basketball coach Rick Stansbury talk Monday about the top-ranked opponent his team will face tonight, you would think the 14-year veteran planned to carry a slingshot and pebble in his back pocket.
Stansbury, who is from Campbellsville, Ky., knows the challenge and discussed the enormity of the task MSU will face at 8 tonight (ESPN) when it plays host to the No. 1 University of Kentucky (26-1, 12-0 Southeastern Conference) at Humphrey Coliseum.
The game will be only the second time in the Stansbury’s time at MSU that the program has played host to a No. 1 team.
“If Kentucky plays great, I don’t know if anybody beats them,” Stansbury said. “That’s calling it what it is. We have to hope we can play to our capabilities and maybe we have something to do with Kentucky not playing as well as they’re capable of. That’s our challenge. Nobody yet has seemed to be able to make that happen. That’s what we have to try to do to have a chance.”
Stansbury doesn’t think all the talk about his team’s poor play against the University of Georgia, LSU, and Auburn (all losses) would be an issue if MSU could’ve made some plays to change its fortunes. However, the fact the Bulldogs didn’t make those plays is why questions surround the program.
“That’s what a fine line it is,” Stansbury said. “There’s two games we lose in overtime, it’s one play. We wouldn’t even be having these conversations — talking about leadership. We’d be totally on the other side of the fence.”
When asked if MSU (19-8, 6-6) had a team meeting or players-only type meeting after losing to Auburn on Saturday, freshman guard Rodney Hood said it happened on the 243-mile bus ride back to Starkville.
“Dee and the rest of the leaders were just telling us we’re the underdogs and we have to come out swinging,” Hood said. “Of course we’re down (after) losing three straight winnable games, but we ain’t got anywhere to go but up now.”
The last time MSU has lost four games in a row was the 2005-06 season when it lost seven in a row in less than one month.
Kentucky is on a 18-game winning streak thanks to the efforts of freshman forward Anthony Davis, a national player of the year candidate, who leads the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding at 13.9 points and 9.7 boards per game, respectively. The 6-foot-10 center, who some draft analysts have as a possible top pick in next summer’s draft, leads the nation with 131 blocked shots.
“No one yet has taken Davis out of anything yet,” Stansbury said. “He changes the game more than any one player in a long time. I’ve never seen anybody change the game in so many different ways around that rim offensively and his defensively abilities.”
MSU expects junior Renardo Sidney to match up against Davis. But the 285-pound center is battling back spasms that kept him out of the Auburn game. Bost said Monday he was convinced Sidney would play tonight, but Stansbury wasn’t sure less than 10 minutes later.
“I hope you’re right,” Stansbury said. “I don’t have the answer to that right now. We just had a walkthrough, really didn’t do a whole lot, so we haven’t done anything yet. He hasn’t done anything since last Tuesday when we played. Today we’ll see where he’s at. We’ll know here in a minute. Out at practice will figure it out a little more. That’s a good sign he’s telling somebody he can play. I like that.”
Kentucky likely will use the nation’s best defense (field goal percentage) to target junior forward Arnett Moultrie. The 6-foot-10 forward leads MSU in scoring (16.5), while his 10.8 rebounds and 15 double-doubles are tops in the SEC.
“He’s a double-double, very long and active, skilled offensively
(and) can block shots,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “He’s going to be a handful, and it’s not going to be one guy guarding him. … It’s going to be our team having to guard him. The stuff I’ve watched, he’s as good as anyone in our league. He’s that talented, so it’ll be a challenge.”
Kentucky is the highest-ranked team MSU has faced since the No. 2
Wildcats won 75-74 in overtime to capture the 2010 SEC tournament
championship in Nashville, Tenn., a matchup Stansbury remembers vividly.
“I’ll feel the pain of it for a long time,” Stansbury said. “There’ll never be a game again that so much (was) lost in one play. There was an SEC championship, NCAA tournament (bid), and whatever else came after that in one play.”
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