STARKVILLE — Welcome back Fred Thomas.
MSU men’s basketball coach Rick Ray couldn’t wait to tell anybody who would listen that Thomas was the Bulldog who matured and improved the most over the summer.
Thomas proved Thursday his coach was correct.
The sophomore guard scored a game-high 17 points and energized the offense with a multi-dimensional skill set not seen since he arrived on campus in a 78-55 victory against Kennesaw State at Humphrey Coliseum.
“Fred is a talent, and I think all he needs to focus on is finishing at the rim better because teams are going to play him as a shooter,” Ray said. “He has 15 pounds of strength and muscle added to him, so he needs to continue to prove and understand he’s much more than a shooter. He can do a lot more than make shots, and he’s starting to mature in recognizing that fact.”
Thomas, who served a one-game suspension for playing in an unsanctioned charity All-Star game in the summer, shot just 23.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc last season. On Thursday, he missed his first two shots and his first three free throws, but he connected on his three next three shots in a three-minute period of the first half
“Last year, I was pretty impatient about my shooting because all I would think about is getting the ball and letting it go immediately,” Thomas said. “As a sophomore, I need to make sure it’s a good shot and that I’m open before I take it.”
When asked if Thomas was capable last year of finding quality shots and ways to help MSU (2-0) win when his shot wasn’t falling, Ray said no.
“We asked Fred to do a lot (last year), and it was really unfair to him,” Ray said. “We wanted him to manufacture points for a team right away as a freshman. Fred didn’t have an offseason with us and we as coaches basically said to him, ‘OK, go out and score points for us because we don’t have anybody else to do that.’ ”
Even Thomas, a 6-foot-5 wing player, had to admit he has changed his mentality, even when early adversity struck against Kennesaw State (1-4)
“(Craig Sword) told me to keep shooting and not to worry about those early misses,” Thomas said. “After I hit the first one I felt like if I get open again, I’ll hit another one and I’ll hit another one.”
After missing those first shots, Thomas was 4 of 6 from beyond the 3-point arc. He also had three steals and an athletic block of a 3-pointer.
MSU angered Ray in the first 20 minutes by sleepwalking through a first half that saw Kennesaw State convert eight of its first 10 shots.
Sword said it took Ray “wearing us out” with his halftime speech to get MSU to regroup against a Division I program that has only five victories in the past two seasons.
“I was disappointed with the way our team played in the first half because I thought we weren’t going to come in with the mentality and grind,” Ray said. “I think my guys saw the record and name (of Kennesaw State) and thought add water, stir for a blowout win. That’s not who we are, and I don’t think that’s who we are going to be.”
MSU ended the evening with five players contributing a double-figure scoring effort including bench performances by juniors Trivante Bloodman and Roquez Johnson. The bench duo combined for 21 points and six rebounds with only one turnover. East Mississippi Community College transfer Colin Borchert added 15 points, while Sword had 13.
“Tonight just shows how well rounded we are as a team to have production come off the bench with Roquez and Dre (Applewhite) like the same way we do as starters,” Borchert said.
MSU’s quickness and speed was evident in the second half when it shot 53.3 percent from the field and forced 14 of the Owls’ 26 turnovers. The Bulldogs turned those turnovers and the visitor’s poor shot selection into a 18-2 fast break point advantage.
“We tell (freshman point guard) IJ (Ready) that if we are on the break to just throw it out and we’ll go get it for a dunk or a layup,” Sword said. “We may have underestimated them to start the game. They got our attention early and we had to push the tempo.”
Kennesaw State, which had three post players foul out, had only one player in double figures. Yonel Brown led the way with 15 points in 35 minutes.
MSU will look to start a season 3-0 for only the third time since 2007 when it plays host Mississippi Valley State (0-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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