Fighting To The Finish
February 25, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
Projections aside, Bulldogs remain focused on battling the rest of the way.
STARKVILLE – With age comes wisdom it's said.
It was just moments after Mississippi State fell on the road to South Carolina on Wednesday when a disappointed Tolu Smith met with reporters. It'd have been easy for the experienced redshirt junior forward to sulk. It'd have been understandable for him to slump his shoulders or hang his head. He instead took another route.
Sure, you could tell Smith wasn't pleased. Who in his shoes would've been? What he was though was mature. His comments indicated such.
"The coaches did a phenomenal job of scouting before the game," Smith said. "At the end of the day, it came down to us playing the game. I take a lot of responsibility as a leader.
"At the end of the day, it is off to the next one and never quit. That is what we are going to do."
The next one comes on Saturday when Mississippi State hosts Vanderbilt in a noon game at Humphrey Coliseum. Anyone who tries to tell you it's a contest that means nothing because MSU's NCAA Tournament hopes were damaged too much in recent weeks is wrong. Quite the contrary says head coach Ben Howland.
"Right now, the most important game in our lives is Vanderbilt," Howland said.
It has to be. Right now, no other game, no other tournament, no other situation matters. All the Bulldogs can do is play the hand they're dealt.
There's no rewind button to hit and go back in time to capture some of this year's missed opportunities. College basketball doesn't offer mulligans.
What it does present is new chances. That's what Saturday is for State. It's a chance to get better. That's certainly one way the Bulldogs are looking at things.
"We just have to improve and continue to grow," Howland said. "You never stop growing. You're either getting better or you're falling backwards. You never stay exactly the same and I want to finish on a strong note here as we're finishing our season."
It's also a chance to start building momentum in hopes of a late run. Never say never.
Now there's no hiding from the fact MSU's hopes for participating in the NCAA Tournament have been hampered.
State sits at No. 52 in the NCAA NET ranking. Not ideal. The Bulldogs aren't currently mentioned in ESPN's Joe Lunardi's most recent NCAA Tournament field predictions and seem to be on the wrong side of the bubble. Again, not optimal, but the Dawgs certainly haven't been eliminated.
So, what will it take for Mississippi State to work its way back into the mix? Wins, of course; and a lot of them.
Howland has said a couple of times now he thinks MSU most likely needs to win the Southeastern Conference Tournament and earn the league's automatic bid to the big dance, though Howland freely admits it's all just an educated guess.
"If not [win the SEC Tournament], we probably have to win out [in the regular season] and win three games in a row and get to the finals [of the SEC Tournament]," Howland said. "That's just all conjecture on my part."
What's not speculation is the common thread of all the predicting. Victories are needed. Saturday against Vanderbilt is a prime opportunity to start collecting them.
It's all the Bulldogs can do it this point. Aim to win, get the job done, move on and see what happens. Or to go back to the words of the veteran Smith (with a little emphasis added), it's on to the next one, and never, ever, under any circumstances quit.
