They played the team tied with the second best record in the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference to the wire. And yet, they won 23 games and made the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs finished 363rd in three-point shooting percentage at 26.6 percent. There are 363 Division I-playing basketball teams in the NCAA. State, despite taking four more treys, scored nine fewer points from beyond the arc.Īnd this was nothing new. Against Pitt, State took 23 three-point shots and made only six. They just did not make enough of those, especially from the perimeter. They shared the basketball, worked for good shots. They rebounded well, finishing 16th in the land in offensive rebounds, third in the SEC. Indeed, they finished 10th in all the NCAA in scoring defense, second in the SEC. They were a team that performed so many facets of the game just the way you draw it up. Or the put-back.Īnd that will be the way Jans’ first Bulldogs team is remembered. ![]() The Bulldogs did everything you are supposed to do except make the shot. Of State’s final possession, Jans said, “It was a heck of a look … It’s all you can ask for, a chance - the ball is in the air, to win an NCAA Tournament game and still have enough time to get a put-back.” “We had a couple chances there at the end to win the game, but it didn’t happen.” ![]() ![]() “There was no doubt in our minds we’d fight and claw and we did,” MSU coach Chris Jans said. Jeffries rose high above the goal and still had a chance for the tip-in before the buzzer. With just over a second to play, lefty Shakeel Moore launched a wide-open 3-point shot from just beyond the arc.
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