Brandan Kearney already has a career high and is showing the kind of outside touch MSU is missing without Gary Harris and Travis Trice.
The sophomore guard hit a deep jumper from the corner, then added a pair of 3-pointers for eight points as MSU scrapped and clawed to a 33-27 halftime lead over Louisiana-Lafayette.
Louisiana got a huge boost early from 6-9 freshman forward Shawn Long, a Mississippi State transfer who showed early that he could hit from deep and then used that to free up the paint to drive. He had all 14 of his points by the midpoint of the half, including a free throw that gave the Ragin’ Cajuns a 21-17 lead with about 9 1/2 minutes left.
But Russell Byrd answered with a 3-pointer, then Kearney hit one that gave MSU its first lead of the game at 23-21.
Keith Appling has seven points and Derrick Nix six for MSU.
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Nice to see Kearney shooting well. Hope he keeps it up.
Watching this game and it seems like we really miss Harris. Lots of dumb mistakes, turnovers and wow, Byrd is just not good. A lot closer than it should be for the much more talented Spartans playing at home. Hope we see some improvement in the next few games.
GO STATE!!
And exactly why can’t MSU teams ever guard the perimeter??
Very fortunate to pull this one off! Way too many turnovers. Way too sloppy.
Ben, relax it’s November, 2 primary ball handlers are out.
Losing two out ofa 9 man rotation similar to losing6-7starters on a football team in three weeks things will be back to normal. Iiit
Seems like we have a game like this every year. It’s hard to get up for every game, especially playing 3 games in 5 days. Not offering excuses, just sayin’
It’s a combination of missing a couple of key guys, and taking an opponent too lightly. We’ll probably have a couple of nasty losses to bad teams before it all shakes out, too.
I3T
The third game in five days and second on a holiday weekend has a lot to do with it as well.
A QUOTE OF INTEREST:
Suzy Merchant on Jasmine Thomas: “As a captain, you have to produce on the floor or else other people won’t hear you over time.”
Wonder if they could hear her in the locker room across the hall.