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Four Things to Watch for: Mississippi State

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What to watch for when 2-4 Mississippi State comes to the Dunkin Donuts Center on Saturday afternoon.

1. Following a 21 win campaign a season ago, the Bulldogs are in full blown rebuilding mode under first year head coach Rick Ray.  Ray, the former Clemson assistant, took the gig after there wasn’t much interest from current DI head coaches.  Despite winning 21 games a season ago, they went with a change at the helm, in part to improve a culture that had been soured thanks in part to the highly-regarded, under-performing Renardo Sidney who infamously fought a teammate in the stands following a win over San Diego State.

This was after he had just returned from a one game suspension.

This was the culture they were trying to move on from.

Sidney’s loss may be addition by subtraction, but the departure of power forward Arnett Moultrie hurt, as he was taken in the first round of the NBA Draft last June.  Also gone is promising sophomore Rodney Hood, who transferred to Duke, and a large portion of the recruiting class that committed under the previous regime.

As a result, the Bulldogs have struggled early.  A season-opening loss at Troy (56-53) kicked off a streak in which they lost four of their first five games before beating up on Alcorn State earlier this week.

In fairness, the losses following the season opener have come against solid competition (North Carolina, Marquette, and Texas), but this is a team that has struggled to score early – shooting under 39% as a team, dishing out only 8.7 assists (336th nationally) and scoring less than 60 per game.

Still, this is a high major DI opponent, and if Providence were to win it would be their first victory over a team from a power conference this season.

6’7 sophomore Roquez Johnson leads them in scoring (15.2 ppg, 50% shooting) after only playing three minutes a game last season.

2. As noted here the night of Providence’s 61-42 victory over Holy Cross, Ed Cooley was effusive in his praise for the work this short-handed group has done early, and pleaded with Friar fans to show up in greater numbers on Saturday.

The comments got even more traction when the Providence Journal and Woonsocket Call followed up with stories highlighting these comments in the days after the win.

For the second straight November, the Dunkin Donuts Center has been too quiet for the coach’s liking.  Providence is averaging 5,374 fans per game this year – down just slightly from the 5,557 through November a year ago.  While the 6,854 that came to the Fairfield game last Friday were the most to show in any November game at The Dunk under Cooley, the Friars have twice had less than 5,000 fans in attendance this year (4,596 versus Holy Cross and 4,307 against Bryant).  A year ago, PC twice drew over 6,000 fans in November (versus just once this year) and were under 5,000 once (4,369 against Southern).

While the numbers have been small, the greater issue may be with the sagging energy in the building – which may be a product of the competition more than anything.  It will be interesting to see if a bigger name draws a larger, more enthusiastic crowd on Saturday.

It’s worth noting that Providence has still drawn more fans than St. John’s, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and South Florida in their home games, and are right in line with the undefeated, and highest scoring team in the conference, Cincinnati (5713 per game).

3. At 24.3 points per game, Bryce Cotton is the Big East’s leading scorer through the first month.  He’s one of only four Big East players putting up 20 a night, and is the only one over 22 per game.  He’s also 8th in assists (4.8) and tied for second in three point field goal makes per game.

In a season in which Providence hasn’t gotten many breaks, Cotton has stepped into the dual role of scorer and facilitator, and has gone six games without playing so much as an average game.  The Friars are 5-1 with him at the helm, and his shooting percentages are up from the field (.468%) and three point range (.419) this season, which is astounding considering he is playing a new position and no longer has the Big East’s premiere passer in Vincent Council getting him looks.

Saturday will provide another test, as Mississippi State has more athletes than any team PC has faced so far, with the exception of perhaps Massachusetts.

4. After Tuesday’s win over Holy Cross Cooley said LaDontae Henton was Providence’s best player, noting that it was great to see “the real” Henton back.

While his shooting percentages are down this year, those figures appear to be on an upward trend.  After shooting 9-33 against UMass and Penn State, he’s bounced back with three straight games in which he’s shot over 50%.

Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, he shot 28 three pointers in Providence’s first four games (making six), but has seen his percentage rise after taking only 14 threes in the three games that followed (making five).

Henton took 14 shots inside the arc on Tuesday, making eight of them, and went back to a familiar move from a season ago when he took one dribble and pulled up from 19-20 feet.  It’s a shot he makes with regularity and one that we’d seen less frequently earlier in the year.  He seemed to be rushing his game from deep early, but has founding his footing offensively since.

His rebounding numbers have spiked since Penn State as well.  He’d grabbed only 22 in his first four games, but over the last three has 28.

 

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

 

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