Sidney’s debut approaching, but will he fizzle?

Mississippi State’s been waiting more than a year to see Renardo Sidney in action. Maybe they’re hoping Wednesday night’s exhibition against Bellhaven was just a hiccup.

The 6-10 redshirt freshmen – a McDonald’s All-American who sat all of last season and the first nine game of the 2010-11 due to an NCAA suspension – played just 15 minutes due to cramps and finished with 10 points, six rebounds and three turnovers in a 101-76 win.

Hardly the stuff of legend.

“I thought I was going to get 30 (points) and 20 (rebounds),” Sidney told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. “I was cramping real bad. It’s just a poor game decision, of not hydrating real well. I’ve got to do better and hydrate and eat more bananas.”

He better start downing the Gatorade. The Bulldogs (7-2) completed a run of five games in five days and now travel to the Bahamas for a Saturday night game against Virginia Tech.

But there’s a silver lining for the Bulldogs. Sidney knows he can do better and showed some flashes Wednesday of what makes him such a highly touted addition. From the paper:

Sidney’s first basket was also the first flash of promise Stansbury had preached about for more than a year. The play started out routinely enough: Sidney dribbled and backed into Belhaven forward Terence Stringfellow. Then, in a quick flash, the sophomore made his move - spinning and dribbling past the defender. He took two steps near the baseline and dunked the ball with both hands with 12:03 remaining in the first half.

“It’s very obvious he’s going to score the basketball,” Stansbury told the paper. “But, again, I don’t think he was as good as he (can be). He didn’t have that edge.”

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