Bulldogs have a dog fight on their hands
By By Tony Krausz/assistant sports editor
January 24, 2004
At first glance, Mississippi State University's basketball game against Georgia this afternoon would appear to be like the Harlem Globetrotters playing the Washington Generals.
MSU is ranked 20th in the nation and is averaging nearly six point more than Georgia per game (75.7 to 69.9).
The Bulldogs, who make Starkville home, will throw the Southeastern Conference's seventh ranked scorer into the game in Lawrence Roberts, who is scoring 16.5 points per game. The transfer from Baylor is also averaging a double-double per contest averaging 10.8 rebounds per game, ranked second in the conference.
Plus, MSU guard Timmy Bowers is 10th in the SEC in scoring averaging 15.8 per game.
Georgia is second to last in the SEC in points allowed, giving up an average of 68.8 per game, and the team has been on a rollarcoaster ride since the end of last season losing its coach and the possibilities of the program facing stiff penalties from the NCAA.
Yep, it should be an easy afternoon at Humphrey Coliseum for MSU. The squad decked out in white-and-maroon uniforms should take care of business by the end of the first half and just coast right through the game's final 20 minutes.
But wait just a minute.
Georgia lowly, unranked, athletic department in disarray Georgia defeated Kentucky on Jan. 17.
HOLD ON! WAIT JUST A MINUTE! Did SportsCenter honestly report that. Let's go back to the tape and hit rewind.
HRAHBRAH BRAHHRAH 71 .NAJ NO YKCUTNEK DETAEFED AIGROEG HRAHBRAH BRAHHRAH.
Georgia defeated Kentucky on Jan. 17. Yep it's true, and even better, Georgia pulled off the unthinkable feat in Lexington, Kty., on the Wildcats' home floor.
Georgia, which has won just nine games overall and lost six, snapped then- No. 5 Kentucky's 19-game regular season conference winning streak.
But the Wildcats are not the only giants of college hoops fame that Georgia has come up and bite on their backside.
The scrappy bunch from Georgia also knocked off a Georgia Tech team that had not lost a game and was ranked third in the country earlier this month.
So not only does MSU have to deal with not letting the team's emotions run wild after finally defeating Florida in Gainesville, Fla., for the first time since the 1995-96 season, but now it has to keep Georgia from hitting another Goliath with a stone from a sling shot.
Of course, Georgia walks onto a basketball with quit a bit more than just a sling shot and a bag of rocks.
Georgia comes equipped with an unheard of in modern college basketball four seniors, who all contribute.
Rashad Wright is leading the team in scoring with 14.5 per game. Damine Wilkins and Jonas Hayes each pump in 12.9 a game, and Chris Daniels is tallying 10.1 points every time out.
And just to keep the challenge going that didn't seem to be there for MSU about 14 inches ago, Stansbury's boys didn't have the best of Thursday's after their win in Florida.
MSU's game that was going to be so easy and allow fans to think about catching the earl-bird dinner specials has become quite a bit of a challenge for a team that looks to be on its way to ruling the Western Division.
The players, who may not be as happy about flying since the Florida troubles, need to make sure they don't become an addition to the one line about Georgia that will confuse generations of basketball fans for years to come.
How can a team lose to Winthrop but beat Kentucky, Georgia Tech and Mississippi State? Right now, MSU is not part of this question, but if the team is not careful, it could be.
