Tide faces big problem with 6-foot-10 MSU center

TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama basketball team may feel down. The Crimson Tide may feel depressed. But what the team wants to avoid feeling this afternoon is rejected.

The Crimson Tide, off to an 0-3 start in Southeastern Conference play in 2008, will host SEC Western Division leading Mississippi State (12-5 overall, 3-0 SEC) today at 2 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum. The Bulldogs present a variety of challenges for the Tide but perhaps the most obvious will involve getting the basketball past MSU center Jarvis Varnado, the leading shot-blocker in the NCAA.

Varnado is averaging 5.2 blocks per game. The 6-foot-10 sophomore swatted away 10 in the Bulldogs’ win against Georgia last week and repeated the feat in MSU’s against Kentucky last Tuesday. In the Bulldogs’ three SEC games, Varnado has a staggering 27 blocks, an average of nine per game.

“He changes the game around him,” MSU coach Rick Stansbury said on the SEC coaches’ conference call this week.

Alabama’s job is to be aware of Varnado without being intimidated.

“You have to be aware of him,” Tide head coach Mark Gottfried said. “He’s long and he’s got great timing. Some guys have that knack for blocking shots and he has it. I don’t think you alter everything you do, but he is a factor.”

Varnado’s presence also allows MSU to be more aggressive with its perimeter defense, Gottfried said.

Tide forward Demetrius Jemison said the key against a strong shot-blocker was intelligence.

“You still have to do what you like to do on offense,” Jemison said. “You might put your body into him more and try to attack him that way. But you don’t let him completely change your play.”

Mississippi State, which struggled to a 5-5 start, has reeled off seven consecutive wins since losing to South Alabama on December 15.

In addition to Varnado, MSU presents other challenges, particularly when it comes to defending top scorer Jamont Gordon. The 6-foot-4 junior averages 17.5 points and 4.4 assists per game.

“He presents some unusual problems for a defense,” Gottfried said. “There are not many players like him. He’s strong. But, outside of your point guard, it’s tough for anyone else to guard him because he brings the ball up so well in transition. Plus, if you try to guard him with someone who is a rebounder, they really have to sprint or he will beat them down the floor.

“I don’t think you guard him with just ne person for the entire game. We’ll guard him collectively and have different people on him at different times.”

Gottfried said that freshman Rico Pickett would continue to start at the point guard position despite struggling at Georgia and that he would guard Gordon in some situations.

GOTTFRIED SAID on Friday that he did not detect any “crisis of confidence among Crimson Tide players despite the team’s 0-3 start in Southeastern Conference play.

“I don’t think anybody’s confidence is down,” Gottfried said. “We got back (from Georgia after winter weather altered travel plans) yesterday at 2:30 (p.m.) and we were on the floor at six o’clock and the guys were great. We had a very good practice.”

Crimson Tide players Richard Hendrix and Brandon Hollinger had expressed concern about the team’s confidence after the Tide’s loss at Georgia.

“I think when you talk to guys immediately after a game like that, the emotions of the game are still with them,” Gottfried said.

“We all need to tighten up. We can all play better and we can all coach better. We have some challenges with this team, but we need to be better than our problems.”

Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0225.