STARKVILLE — The season of judgment has arrived for Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Rick Ray.
Asked Thursday to assess where his program is in its rebuilding process, Ray was candid in discussing his team’s expectations going forward.
“I think this is the first year you can have a true barometer of where our program is at and where we’re going,” said Ray, who is in his third season at MSU. “I think you can really gauge where we are at. It’s so hard to win in college basketball when you don’t have elite freshmen or talented veteran guys. Now I think we have both.”
That barometer should give a good reading at Saturday when MSU will play host to Mountain West Conference member Utah State at Humphrey Coliseum.
Utah State (3-0), which beat MSU 87-68 last season in Logan, Utah, is coming off victories against Illinois State and Santa Clara earlier this week. It opened the season with a victory against Weber State.
“This is going to be the exact opposite of what we played Monday night,” said Ray, whose team beat Mississippi Valley State 89-68. “Mississippi Valley was very frenetic, very up-and-down. Utah State plays really disciplined basketball. They make you work. They have about 50 offensive sets and they go through them constantly. They have fake sets to make you think they’re running one thing when they’re really running another. We will have to be a disciplined, principled basketball team to win.”
Sophomore David Collette is averaging 16 points per game to lead Utah State.
On the other side, MSU has thrived in the post against a pair of under-sized teams to start the season. Senior forward Roquez Johnson leads MSU at 18 points per game, while junior Gavin Ware is scoring 16.5 points and pulling down a team-leading 9.5 rebounds per game.
Junior guard Fred Thomas is averaging 16 points and six rebounds.
“The biggest reason is maturity,” said Ray when asked why Thomas is playing so well. “I think physically you see he’s so much bigger and stronger than what he was. I was watching last year’s tape, and he doesn’t even look like the same body type. He’s put in a lot of time in the offseason to become a better basketball player.”
While Thomas has excelled at shooting guard, he also has filled in admirably as MSU’s backup point guard due to injuries to starting guards Craig Sword and IJ Ready. Sword was MSU’s leading scorer a year ago, while Ready was expected to be MSU’s starter at the point. Neither have played this year, though, as both are recovering from surgery to repair herniated discs in their backs.
Sword, originally expected back by this weekend, suffered a setback, while Ready appears ahead of schedule after being expected back in mid-December.
“After three weeks, Craig was looking great, feeling no pain,” said MSU trainer Ryan Dodson. “He went through all the tests, the running, the stretching. Then we put him in practice situations and he landed awkwardly, and that irritated the nerve in his back. That has set him behind as we’ve pulled him back to rest that nerve. IJ, after three weeks since his surgery, is where Craig was, but he still feels good after going through practice.”
MSU hasn’t let the injuries affect it. But as the schedule gets tougher, the return of one or both becomes will be crucial for a team that has postseason hopes. Thomas and Trivante Bloodman, who is averaging nine points and 6.5 assists, have manned the guard positions. Newcomers Oliver Black, Travis Daniels, Demetrius Houston, Fallou Ndoye, and Maurice Dunlap have been key contributors off the bench to help offset the absence of Sword and Ready. Of the four freshmen, Houston has played the most, averaging nine points.
Ray said the challenge is balancing playing time for the young players while allowing MSU’s veterans to shine.
“At times, we’ve had four freshmen out there, and they are coming along,” Ray said. “But you look at a guy like Gavin Ware, he has played so well that it’s been hard to get Fallou (Ndoye) minutes. Gavin is playing great, so it’s up to me to find a way to get Fallou minutes.”
n MSU will play in 2015 Puerto Rice Classic: On Thursday, Ray explained the reasons teams enjoy playing in midseason tournaments in exotic locations. Next season, the Bulldogs will do just that, as the Bulldogs were one of eight teams invited to play in the 2015 Puerto Rico Classic.
The event will be Nov. 19-22 (off day on the 21st) in San Juan and the bracket will also feature Butler, Miami (Fla.), Minnesota, Missouri State, Temple, Texas Tech, and Utah.
ESPN will handle all the broadcast duties. Matchups will be announced at a later date.
“These type of tournaments give you a chance to play elite teams,” Ray said. “And it’s always good to take your guys to nice, exotic locations. It’s a good cultural experience and recruiting tool.”
Two years ago, MSU played in the Maui Invitational. Last year, MSU participated in the Las Vegas Classic, where it lost to UNLV in the finals. Next week, MSU will travel to Texas for the Corpus Christi Classic, where it will face St. Louis at 8:30 p.m. Friday and TCU or Bradley the following day.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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