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Mississippi State provides challenge for Wright State

Raiders might have to score big to win at Mississippi State.

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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer Updated 2:11 AM Tuesday, December 15, 2009

FAIRBORN — Wright State basketball coach Brad Brownell likes to think his team can play a low-scoring and a high-scoring game.

He could find out about the high-scoring part Wednesday, Dec. 16, when the Raiders play at Mississippi State (7-2), a team averaging 75.8 points a game.

Brownell took a moment Monday to assess his Raiders (6-3) following a 56-55 loss at Miami on Sunday.

“The flow of the game dictates how you’re playing,” Brownell said. “We’re fine. Are we hurt? Yeah, we’re hurt a little bit. Are we wounded? We’re a little wounded from losing that game. We played reasonably well. We missed a lot of open shots. We still have got to be able to win those games in the 50s.

“Numbers are going to be misleading sometimes. Last year, I don’t know if we had the ability to score 70 points (The Raiders did three times, winning all three). This year, we have the ability to play both.”

It appears that against Mississippi State, the Raiders will have to go to their high-end scoring. Mississippi State, which has been ranked as high as No. 18, has five players who average in double figures and is on a four-game winning streak, including a 72-54 trouncing at UCLA.

“They’re probably playing as well as anybody in the country right now,” Brownell said.

They’re also adding 7-foot-1 freshman John Riek, just declared eligible by the NCAA.

Still, the Bulldogs fell out of the rankings after an opening 88-74 loss to Rider.

Starting Mississippi State forward Kodi Augustus was aghast when that happened.

“This is Rider,” Augustus said. “(We’re) preseason ranked No. 18. We’re not supposed to lose our first game, home opener. Wow. It’s crazy.”

It was crazy because the Bulldogs had just handed out SEC championship rings and hung a banner for last season’s title — with all five starters returning from that team.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157  or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.