Labels don’t matter to IJ Ready, especially when it’s time to win a game against an archrival.
With Ole Miss threatening to steal a game, the Mississippi State freshman point guard gathered his four teammates for a inspirational speech. The leadership Ready showed that is normally reserved for older players helped MSU close out 76-72 victory before a season-high crowd of 8,841 at Humphrey Coliseum.
After the game, Ready was seen celebrating in the MSU student section.
“We huddled up on our own and I told them if we get a stop here then we can go down and get a bucket and we could win the rest of the game,” Ready said. “I think we turned it up on defense and really put the defensive pressure on the ball, so that kind of made them second guess what they were doing.”
Ready (10 points) had his third double-figure scoring effort of the season. The performance came after he struggled Wednesday in a blowout loss to No. 14 Kentucky. Following the 85-63 loss at Rupp Arena, MSU coach Rick Ray demanded Ready be more aggressive and more selfish when opportunities presented themselves.
“I think I’d like to see IJ be a little bit more aggressive, but he did things as a point guard to help us win tonight, and that’s what he’s about,” Ray said.
Ready was aggressive on defense against Ole Miss’ talented guards, and helped teammate Craig Sword make seven steals. On his only steal of the game, Ready took the ball from point guard Derrick Millinghaus and cruised in for a layup to give MSU a 43-36 halftime advantage.
“I saw all the pictures and everything from last year, but I didn’t know how it felt,” Ready said about MSU’s victory against Ole Miss. “It’s a different feeling when you’re out there playing. They told me what it was like to beat Ole Miss, and that’s really all I wanted to do at the end of the day.”
Ray had only one turnover in 25 minutes. He also was one of four MSU players with at least three assists.
Status of MSU football player Wilson still unknown despite arrival Saturday
MSU freshman De’Runnya Wilson sat on the bench and made his first official appearance with the men’s basketball team Saturday.
“It was great because we hadn’t seen him at all since the Liberty Bowl, so we think he can really help us for the rest of the season,” Sword said.
Wilson, the Alabama high school basketball player of the year in Birmingham, Ala., said throughout the recruiting process he intended to try to play football and basketball at MSU. However, Ray was hesitant to comment about Wilson after the football team beat Rice on Dec. 31.
“It’s funny because I come in the locker room to lead the team like I normally do and (Wilson) is sitting down there and I don’t know his status,” Ray said. “I haven’t talked with (MSU football coach Dan Mullen), but I walk in there and there’s a guy with dreadlocks sitting down. I said, ‘Hi Bear.’ ”
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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