Bulldogs comeback falls short

[Dawgfish]

I was terribly dissapointed at my Bulldogs tonite as they let Auburn put quite a run on them in the first half. The Bulldogs found themselves down by 20 at halftime which really blew my mind.
Rhodes and Slater both had dbl/dbls but the amount of turnovers doomed them. They just dug themselves to deep of a hole to dig out of. State had 7 more turnovers than did Auburn. 10 of which came from Jamont Gordon who also had 7 assists. Despite shooting 50% from the field in the second half they just could not shut down Auburn's 3 point shooting which was the key in tonite's loss. State outshot Auburn from the field (49.2 to 41.8) and outrebounded the Tigers (38 to 29) but Auburn got the edge in 3 pointers, connecting on 10 of 25(40%) while State just couldn't get hot from behind the arc and managed just 5 of 21(28.5%). Another contributing factor was the Bulldogs inability to get to the charity stripe tonight as they only took 10 FT making 7 of them. Auburn got to the the line quite frequently and made the most of them hitting 75% (19 of 25). State put 4 in double figures and Auburn's Barrett took scoring honors with 22 .
A tough loss for the Bulldogs that I felt they really should have won. I'm not so sure they are bound for the NIT. They need to pick up some wins from somewhere and I'm not sure where they will get them.

[AceLeroy]

Bad loss and they might need 3 more wins to get in the NIT.

[Dawgfish]

where are we gonna get 3 more wins? Is that our magic # for a NIT bid?

[AceLeroy]

where are we gonna get 3 more wins? Is that our magic # for a NIT bid?

That's just my guess , and I have my doubts about them getting 3 more wins.

After looking it over , to be brutally honest I just don't see our Dogs getting those 3 wins.... Ark. on the road is a likely loss while Bama and UGA at the Hump are winnable but not easy wins at all.

Now....Even if the Dogs can win their 2 remaining home games , they would still need a win in the SECT where the opponent would likely be Vandy or SC , both of who took MSU to the woodshed earlier this year.

On the other hand , maybe I am wrong. Maybe the NIT takes MSU with only 2 more wins and a 15-15 record. Who knows.

I know most people don't care about the NIT and I don't follow it much either unless MSU or some other SEC team is playing there , but I really think it would be a big deal for MSU to get in the NIT this year.

It isn't the NCAA big dance , but it would be a continued string of post season play for MSU's young team. That is ALWAYS a good thing to be able to tell a recruit , that your team has been in post season play for so many years in a row.

It is good to graduate players who spend 4 years playing for your team without them ever having a year where they missed out on a playing some tourney ball.

Really I view it strangely , it wouldn't be huge for MSU to make the NIT this year , but it would be huge in a negative way for them to miss the NIT.

[Dawgfish]

If nothing else just to have the season extended a few more games gives those freshmen more time to mature and develop. They are very talented but at times still make stupid freshmen mistakes. It would not be a heartbreaker to miss the NIT but I feel it would be a lost opportunity. If they will play hard for 40 min each game it is very possible for them to get in.