State has time to find answers

By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports editor
Jan. 8, 2003
STARKVILLE There were a lot of questions following Mississippi State's 74-66 loss to Florida on Tuesday night.
MSU head basketball coach Rick Stansbury said it was easy to see what was wrong, he just didn't know why.
It was actually a 15-2 run that put the Gators up 44-37 with 16:20 left in the game. But even at that, Stansbury said it wasn't falling behind that bothered him. It was the way the Bulldogs reacted to the challenge, or rather, didn't react.
Going into the game Stansbury had touted the levelheadedness and maturity of his team, pointing to how they responded in key situations.
That wasn't the case on Tuesday night, as a packed house of 10,541 at the Humphrey Coliseum and a national ESPN television audience can attest to.
On Tuesday night, the Bulldogs simply didn't respond in crunch time.
But, as Stansbury repeated over and over during his postgame press conference the Bulldogs lost just one game against Florida on Tuesday, not the hopes for an outstanding season.
It is likely that MSU's stay at No. 7 in the polls its highest ranking since the end of the 1962-63 season when the Bulldogs finished at No. 6 won't be a long one.
But the season is.
Last season Mississippi State began SEC play at 2-3, after going 13-1 in pre-league play.
In the end, the Bulldogs were the best team in the SEC, knocking off Florida, LSU and Alabama to win the SEC Tournament in Atlanta.
Today, the Bulldogs have a rest. That's not necessarily because that's the way Stansbury wants it, but the NCAA says you have to give your team a day off. And today is that day.
But it's for sure that Stansbury will be watching tapes and picking his brain trying to figure out why his team just couldn't get into the flow of the game, in particular when Florida stepped up and challenged.
No, they didn't.
If you are looking for blame, there is plenty to pass around.
Senior forward Michal Ignerski had a particularly poor game, going only 1-for-7 from the floor and failing miserably at handling Florida's halfcourt trap.
The Bulldogs were just 6-for-20 from three-point range, and when they came down the floor needing a big basket, they seemed to rush the shots and then get beat to the boards, eliminating a shot at a second-chance basket.
And, even though Mario Austin had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Stansbury said he didn't think his junior post played that well.
And, there was the mysterious sickness suffered by starting forward Ontario Harper.
He began regurgitating during the afternoon shootaround and was hooked up to IVs until just before game time.
There were plenty of reasons why Mississippi State lost to Florida on Tuesday night. One of them is that the Gators, ranked No. 11 in the country, are pretty good.
The others are just something that Stansbury and his Bulldogs will have to figure out for themselves.
And like the coach said, this is just one game in a 16-game season.
This no time to panic, but it is a good one to ask questions.
And, more importantly, to find some answers.