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Home > SECWB News & More! > Our Staff & Contributors > Marilyn McManus > South Carolina Hosts MSU Bulldogs Thursday
South Carolina Hosts MSU Bulldogs Thursday
by Marilyn McManus, SECWB.com
Posted: February 21st, 2008 @ 9:22am
Apologies for the late submission of this preview; I usually try to get these things written up and submitted about 24 hours in advance, whenever possible. I have to admit that I got caught up in watching the lunar eclipse on Wednesday evening and completely forgot that I had a preview to write and submit. It was worth the watching, though. I hope a lot of you got to see it, too.
Back to business. This will be the first meeting of the year between these two teams. The Gamecocks are coming off of a disappointing road loss to Auburn, as it was a game that appeared to be winnable by the visitors, who couldn’t quite make it happen.
Mississippi State is coming off of a very close home-court loss to Georgia 56-60. The results posted by Southeastern Conference teams this season, especially when it comes to games against Georgia, have been so variable as to be almost meaningless for purposes of comparison. At any rate, the MSU Bulldogs are 15-11 overall and 3-8 in the SEC. Their conference wins have all come on their home court, against Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. MSU occupies the #9 spot in the conference rankings at 3-8; the Gamecocks are at # 10 with a 2-8 record. It should be a fairly even game, as those things go.
The Bulldogs have a fairly balanced team, in terms of experience. There are 3 seniors, 4 juniors, 5 sophomores and 3 freshmen on the team. The Bulldogs’ scoring is lead by sophomores Alexis Rack and Tysheka Grimes, both with 11.6 points per game. Rack is the team’s best 3-point shooter, with 68 hits in 207 attempts for a .329 average. Grimes ranks second in the number of attempts, with Marneshia Richard coming in third. The Bulldog team is not shy about letting it fly from long range; there are 9 players who have attempted triple-digit 3s, including 4 of 5 starters. This could be a problem for the Gamecocks, who occasionally have trouble covering the outside shooters. Grimes leads the team in rebounding with 6.5 per game, followed by Imesia Jackson with 5 rebounds per contest. Marneshia Richard is the team leader in assists, with 121 for the season, thus far. She also leads the team in steals, with 50. However, this team shows a great deal of balance–across the board–when viewed statistically. The top 8 players are all very close to each other in every category; there is no one player who is overwhelmingly leading in any of them. Five different players have been the leading scorer in their 26 games; eight different players have led the team in rebounding in those games. It would seem to be a difficult task to try to key on any one Bulldog player, as all seem to be equally capable. A balanced defensive effort will be needed to stop them. It should be a close game.
The Gamecocks will counter with the scoring trio of Jordan Jones, Demetress Adams and Brionna Dickerson, averaging 12.2, 11.3 and 10.4 points per game, respectively. Adams leads the team in rebounding with 9 per game. Ilona Burgrova contributes an additional 9.8 points per game and 6.6 rebounds. The Gamecocks also have pretty comparable stats among the top 8 players; lately, they have been going 8, 9 and sometimes 10 deep, looking for the right on-court combination. On paper, this is a very even matchup. Hopefully, on the court, the Gamecocks will take advantage of the home court setting and pass the Bulldogs in the SEC rankings, with a win.
Tipoff at the Colonial Center is at 7 pm Eastern time.
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