Auburn Basketball: Mississippi State Preview/Alabama Recap
By Ty Roush
Here we preview Auburn basketball’s matchup with Mississippi State on Feb. 7, and recap the Tigers’ sweep over Alabama.
Another victory for Auburn basketball as the Tigers finished off the sweep against the Crimson Tide 82-77, and will face their next opponent Mississippi State at home on Feb. 7. The Bulldogs are coming off a victory against the Tennessee Volunteers 64-59, a team that gave Auburn all it could handle when visiting the Plains.
Auburn had been struggling with turnovers when the Volunteers came to town, and continued to fallout when they took on the Crimson Tide. There has been an issue in getting the ball down low to Austin Wiley, which has led to a opponents getting quick turnover points. Shooting has also been an issue of late, with the Tigers continually taking inefficient and unintelligent shots, leading to loose rebounds and fast paced offense.
Things came together and Auburn was able to pull off the sweep against the Crimson Tide, shooting better shots and, once again, hitting more than normal. Bryce Brown woke up from his arrest and got things going, shooting 4-5 (80 percent) from beyond the arc for 12 points on the game. He also managed to dish out some assists, tying both T.J. Dunans and Ronnie Johnson for a team-high three assists.
Johnson led the team in scoring with 15 points, going 6-11 (54.5 percent) from the field and 3-6 (50 percent) from three. Aside from his team-high in assists, he also had three rebounds and two steals to take the game in Tuscaloosa.
The next challenge for these Tigers is getting through Mississippi State’s youth, being led in scoring by sophomore Quinndary Weatherspoon (17 PPG) and freshmen Lamar Peters (11.9 PPG) and Mario Kegler (9.8 PPG). Evidently most of the offense will be run through Weatherspoon and Peters, who are both shooting over 40 percent from three and from the field. These Bulldogs have the capacity to shoot the lights out, so it’ll be best to close out the perimeter and force them to go down low.
With youth comes inexperience, something that Auburn has fallen victim to on numerous occasions this season. The easiest way to deal with youth against youth is to keep a slower pace, to keep egos away from taking hold of the team. It can also be fended off of improvisation on offense, something that Mustapha Heron has shown some talent in doing.
It can be as simple as that — its fire against fire.
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These two teams are fairly similar, but lack post-offensive sets and don’t focus on the paint as much as the Tigers. This can be in favor for Auburn as it will be easier on defense to defend.