Posted by BillFromTampa

Florida State Seminoles vs Miss. St. Bulldogs 3rd Round NIT
Tip off 7:00 PM; Television ESPN

Records:
FSU – 22-12, 7-9 ACC; Road overall 4-8; RPI 41, SOS 20
Miss. St. –20-13, 8-8 SEC 14-2; Home overall 15-3, RPI 64, SOS 27

Last Five Games:
FSU – 4-1; Miss. St. – 4-1

Miss. St. vs NCAA tournament teams: 4-6 (FSU – 4-10)
Miss. St. vs common opponents: 2-2 (FSU – 5-2)

Last Game:
FSU put six players in double figures in beating Michigan 87-66 in what was Tommy Amaker’s last game as head coach for the Wolverines.
Miss. St. demolished Bradley 101-72 with a barrage of 15 three pointers.

Key Stats:
Scoring offense – FSU 74.6 ppg; Miss. St. 77.1 ppg
Scoring defense – FSU 68.5 ppg;  Miss. St. 68.6 ppg
Free throws – FSU .764; Miss. St. .656
FG percentage – FSU .480; Miss. St. .462
FG percentage defense – FSU .452; Miss. St. .401
3-pt FG percentage – FSU .375; Miss. St. .360
3-pt FG percentage defense – FSU .339; Miss. St. .315
Rebounding margin – FSU +.2; Miss. St. +2.8
Assists – FSU 12.44; Miss. St. 14.76
Turnover margin – FSU –1.91; Miss. St. +.73
Steals – FSU 7.97; Miss. St. 6.76
Blocked shots – FSU 113; Miss. St. 216

Projected Starters:
FSU
Al Thornton 19.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg
Uche Echefu 7.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg
Isaiah Swann 9.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg
Toney Douglas 12.7 ppg, 2.8 apg
Jason Rich 10.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg

Miss. St.
F 6-4 175 SO Richard Delk 5.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg
F 6-3 200 SR Dietric Slater 10.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg
C 6-8 240 JR Charles Rhodes 13.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg
G 6-4 175 SO Reginald Delk 9.9 ppg, 20.0 rpg
G 6-4 225 SO Jamont Gordon 16.2 ppg, 5.2 apg

Florida State takes to the road to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Tuesday night. After the pasting the Bulldogs put on Bradley Saturday afternoon, FSU figures to have its hands full if it wants to move on to New York and the semifinals of the NIT.

Expect Mississippi State to take a lot of three point shots. The Bulldogs average 22 per game. A team that will push the tempo Mississippi State will take the deep shot in transition. This will test the Seminole defense which has been very good at defending the perimeter shot.

An area of concern for FSU will be rebounding. Mississippi State utilizes a team rebounding concept where it’s not unusual to see the guards get in to grab the rebound. It’s a concept that the ‘Noles have not grasped and have a -7.4 rebounding margin against the Bulldogs.

Starting with point guard, the Seminoles will have a difficult matchup with Gordon. A big guard who could be mistaken for a linebacker, he leads the team in scoring, assists (171), and rebounds (7.2 rpg). He uses his size and strength to get to the basket.

Gordon has a capable backup in Ben Hansbrough, the brother of North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough,. Hansbrough can dish it out as well with 110 assists on the season.

The second leading scorer is Rhodes. Despite his size, Rhodes is quick using his footwork well and has strong hands. He is second on the team in blocked shots with 61.

Backup forward Jarvis Varnado leads the team in that category with 65 despite playing only 13.5 minute a game.

The Bulldogs as a team average 6.5 blocked shots a game.

Mississippi State will play an aggressive defense that has done well as evidenced by their 40% FG percentage defensively.

For the Seminoles to be successful they are going to have to have that same scoring balance they had against Michigan to keep the defense from focusing in on Al Thornton. Of course they will have to be patient when they have the ball and play the swarming defense that created numerous turnovers and points against Toledo and Michigan and not get rattled in what should be a hostile environment.