Success at SEC Tournament key for Bulldogs to get NCAA Tournament bid
Mississippi State head men's basketball coach Chris Jans has a clear message for his team on what it's going to take to see the Bulldogs make the bracket for the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday.
“Win games,” Jans said on Tuesday.
MSU gets another opportunity to do that today when it takes on the Florida Gators in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee. The noon tip will take place at Bridgestone Arena.
Jans has tried to encourage his Bulldogs to not get caught up in all of the bracketology talk and not to listen to opinions of others on where they stand.
The best way in Jans' mind for MSU to be where it wants to be on Sunday is to get as many victories as it can this week and add to its 20-11 overall record.
“Everything else will take care of itself and that's the thing I kept harping on,” Jans said. “We're in the position where we control our own destiny. At some point, you may not be in that position and that could be very, very soon, but we are still, in my opinion, in a position where if we win games, we'll be in good shape, but time will tell.”
For veteran Bulldogs like Tolu Smith, the NCAA Tournament has always been a goal.
After winning the Howell Trophy and being voted ALLSEC first team by the coaches and The Associated Press, making the Big Dance would be icing on the cake for Smith. A win against Florida would increase Smith's chances of making that happen.
“This is obviously a big, big game for us and we are taking it as that,” Smith said. “We are scouting earlier, preparing earlier and do a lot of things different. It's the same mindset in every game, but it's a big game.”
There is nothing the Gators would like to do more than beat MSU again like they did 61-59 on January 21 at Humphrey Coliseum and pop the Bulldog bubble.
Florida head coach Todd Golden knows what MSU is trying to do and made no secret that he'd like to throw a wrench into those plans.
“I think they would feel more comfortable with a win against us and unfortunately for that we're in a role of spoiler where we're hopefully going to make it a long couple of days for them,” Golden said. “Again, I've said this before, I have a lot of respect for coach Jans and their program and the way they compete. They've done a really good job with their team and getting to the position they are, but (today) we're going to try to make them have a long weekend.”
Colin Castleton led the Gators with 13 points when they edged the Bulldogs in Starkville.
Since that meeting, Castleton suffered a season-ending injury and will not be available for Florida. Knowing that it had to be difficult to lose a player like Castleton, who had with an average of 16 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, Jans said Golden has done a good job of making up for that loss.
“If you open the laptop and watch their last five games, you wouldn't think they've missed a beat,” Jans said. “They are just playing a little bit different style now. Kudos to coach Golden and their staff for changing it up midstream. That's a big hit, but they've handled it flawlessly and their kids are playing with a lot of confidence.”
The Gators have turned to Riley Kugel, Will Richard, Kyle
Lofton and Kowacie Reeves to take up the slack from the missing Castleton.
Kugel, an ALL-SEC Freshman Team member, has had eight consecutive outings of scoring double figures for Florida with three 20-point efforts.
“Kruger, the one who committed here, is playing really good,” Smith said. “They have some veteran guards. They will do a lot of space outs and play so we've got to sit down, guard and take advantage of what we usually do on offense, rebound, being a force in the paint and not just me.”
Smith has certainly carried his share of the load for MSU. He averages 15.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. D.J. Jeffries is near the double-digit mark in average at nine points per outing.
Today's matchup between the Bulldogs and Gators in the Music City will be televised by SEC Network.