STARKVILLE — Ben Howland sees room for a lot of improvement.
The first-year Mississippi State coach saw his Bulldogs lose 76-72 to Southern University Monday night at Humphrey Coliseum. He pointed out several negatives: defense, shot selection, and lack of touches for Gavin Ware in the paint. He would love to spend this week working on correcting those mistakes, but it won’t happen.
“Rather than go to Puerto Rico, I’d rather have three days of practice, but that’s not what the schedule says,” Howland said after the loss to the Jaguars.
A day after the loss, the Bulldogs boarded a plane and left for Puerto Rico. MSU (1-1) takes on the Miami Hurricanes (2-0) at 4 p.m. (ESPN2) today in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in Colieso Roberto Clemente Arena in San Juan, Puerto Rico. If the Bulldogs win they face the winner of Texas Tech and Utah Friday. MSU will then play another game Sunday.
Along with MSU, Miami, Texas Tech, and Utah, Temple, Minnesota, Butler, and Missouri State are also in the tournament. The competition is some of the best the Bulldogs will face in non-conference this season.
MSU is 5-4 all-time in Puerto Rico. The last appearance came in 2005 in the San Juan Shootout. The Bulldogs beat Liberty (78-67), lost to Akron (83-72), and beat Holy Cross (76-75).
The Bulldogs did not practice Tuesday before they left for Puerto Rico, but did practice for two hours Wednesday.
In two games this season, the Bulldogs have allowed 164 points for an average of 82 per game. Opponents are shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from behind the 3-point line. MSU has only forced 19 turnovers this season.
“I want to see us get better defensively and obviously we want to win,” Howland said. “Those two things go hand in hand. It all starts (with me). I’ve got to do a better job teaching and breaking things down and really emphasizing it.”
Freshman guard Malik Newman made his debut Monday night, but scored just six points and turned the ball over four times in 17 minutes of play. He was 2 of 8 from the field, 1 of 5 from behind the 3-point line, and 1 of 6 from the free throw line. He had been sidelined the last three weeks with a turf toe injury, but practiced Sunday. Howland and Newman both agree it will take him some time to get in the rhythm of college basketball.
Senior center Ware leads the Bulldogs with 19.5 points per game in the early going. The former Starkville High School standout is pulling down 8.5 rebounds. Junior point guard I.J. Ready is second on the team averaging 17 points per game. He leads the team with 11 assists. Both senior guard Craig Sword and senior forward Travis Daniels are averaging 12.5 points per game.
The Bulldogs will be without sophomore forward Demetrius Houston who is suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. He didn’t play in the loss to Southern and played just six minutes and scored two points in the season opener against Eastern Washington.
Miami coach Jim Larranaga pointed out the addition of Newman to the roster on a teleconference last week, but he knows the veterans that the Bulldogs have will be key.
“They are talented and have a great coaching staff,” Larranaga said. “They are going to be a major challenge for us.”
The Bulldogs and Hurricanes have only met four times and the series is tied 2-2. The last meeting was a 64-58 victory by Miami in 2007 in Coral Gables, Florida. The two teams have met at a neutral site two times and have split those two games.
Larranaga is in his fifth year as the Miami coach. He owns a 93-49 overall record with the Hurricanes and is 563-383 in 32 years of coaching. He led George Mason to the 2006 NCAA Final Four, the same year Howland and the UCLA Bruins were one of the final four teams in the nation.
“I have great respect for their coach,” Howland said. “I have known him a great time and he is a great coach. He has done a terrific job and is one of the best coaches in the country.”
The Hurricanes beat the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley 86-59 in the season opener last Friday and beat Louisiana-Lafayette 93-77 Monday.
Miami has five players averaging double digits. Redshirt freshman guard Sheldon McClellan leads the team with 17 points per game. Junior guard Davon Reed is averaging 16.5 points, senior forward Ivan Cruz Uceda is averaging 14.5 points, while both senior guard Angel Rodriguez and sophomore guard Ja’Quan Newton are averaging 11 points per game.
“They are really good on the perimeter and are a veteran team that has everybody back from last year’s team that just missed the NCAA Tournament, so we’ve got our hands full,” Howland said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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