STARKVILLE — Ben Howland has coached in some great conferences.
The first-year Mississippi State coach has been apart of teams in the Big Sky (Northern Arizona), Big East (Pittsburgh) and Pac-10 (UCLA), now the Pac-12. He found success in all three conferences winning six league titles overall and two division titles with the Panthers. Now, Howland turns his attention to another conference, the Southeastern Conference.
“It’s a great conference, when you look around at this league, look at the quality of the institutions, the basketball programs and the history,” Howland said. “It’s really, really high level games, really good players, really well coached teams, so it’s exciting to be apart of such a great league.”
The Bulldogs (7-5, 0-0 SEC), who have won three in a row and are playing better after a two-game losing streak in mid-December, play host to No. 21 Texas A&M (11-2, 1-0) 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network) today inside Humphrey Coliseum.
After a season-opening victory over Eastern Washington, the Bulldogs lost three in a row (Southern University, Miami and Texas Tech). MSU then won three straight with victories over Missouri State, the University of Tennessee-Martin and Texas Southern, but losses on the road to the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Florida State stopped MSU’s momentum. The Bulldogs have rebounded though and knocked off Tulane, Northern Colorado and North Carolina Central in the last three games.
Senior guard Craig Sword said things began to change after the loss to UMKC.
“We have started to come together a lot now,” Sword said. “I think everybody is used to each other now and we have started to adjust to each other.”
In the last three games, MSU’s average margin of victory is 19 points and the Bulldogs haven’t won by less than 10 points.
Howland said he wished his team would have done better in the non-conference, but he has seen his team take approach practice the last few days with a new attitude.
“We are getting better feel for how we have to play to try to give ourselves a chance at success,” Howland said. “It’s a brand new season now that it is SEC play. The players are excited. It is fun for them.
“The level of competition has definitely stepped up. You look at our conference schedule of 18 games and 12 of our 18 are against teams in the top 50 in the RPI. The level of play with our opponent has really ramped up.”
Players like Sword, senior center Gavin Ware and senior guard Fred Thomas have played in many SEC games. Although the trio has not recorded a winning record in conference play the last three seasons, they know what it takes to compete in this league.
Sword, who has led the Bulldogs in scoring the last three seasons, said the transition from the non-conference to league play is a big deal.
“Everybody should be ready because we have been waiting on this all year,” Sword said. “I tell the younger guys that we are going to have to come out and play hard every night. It’s going to be tough every night.”
MSU senior forward Johnny Zuppardo will play in his first ever SEC game. The Bay St. Louis native signed with Arkansas State out of high school and spent one season at Southern Mississippi before helping Jones Junior College win the National Junior College Athletic Association National championship.
Zuppardo said it has been a dream of his to play in the SEC and said he is blessed to be here. He said he is teammates have been anticipating this game for awhile and are happy to enter the second phase of the season.
“The other day at practice we were all excited, yelling and screaming,” Zuppardo said, who is averaging 4.1 points per game this season. “We were just really happy and had a good vibe. We are a really competitive team and great things can happen in conference play. We are looking forward to conference play.”
Ware leads the Bulldogs with 17.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. The former Starkville High School standout is the only MSU player to score in double digits in all 12 games this season. Freshman guard Malik Newman is averaging 13.3 points, Sword 12.1 points and junior point guard I.J. Ready 10.6 points.
MSU is 45-37 all-time in SEC openers, including 30-17 at home. The Bulldogs have lost the last two league openers, including a 61-47 home loss to Tennessee last season.
MSU’s all-time winningest coach Rick Stansbury (293 wins), is the associate head coach for the Aggies. He will be recognized before tipoff in his first game back in Starkville.
The Aggies have won four in a row, including Saturday’s 92-69 SEC opener against Arkansas.
Senior guard/forward Jalen Jones, who won SEC Player of the Week, leads the Aggies with 16.3 points per game.
“He’s really a guy that’s so versatile because he can shoot the 3, he’s really athletic, he has a really good motor, he really plays hard, he’s very aggressive on the offensive glass, he’s a good driver, attacks the glass and gets out in transition,” Howland said. “So he causes a lot of problems.”
Senior guard Danuel House is averaging 15.2 points per game, while freshman center Tyler Davis owns an 11.6 scoring clip.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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