STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State men’s basketball team is still learning.
First-year coach Ben Howland installed a new offense in March when he replaced Rick Ray as the squad’s coach. The change affected the Bulldogs’ defense, but Howland started to address that issue in December when he began to teach defensive fundamentals.
The next step for the Bulldogs is striking a balance between offense and defense.
“Just playing all around good defense will lead us to be successful on offense,” MSU senior center Gavin Ware said.
MSU played well on defense but struggled on offense Wednesday in a 61-60 loss to No. 21 Texas A&M at Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs have lost three-straight Southeastern Conference openers and 11-straight games against ranked foes.
The latest loss was decided by a Jalen Jones dunk with 20 seconds left that gave Texas A&M (12-2, 2-0 SEC) a 59-57 lead. Alex Caruso found Jones with a pass on the baseline to help the Aggies win despite shooting 19 of 62 (30.6 percent) from the field.
Jones also made a 3-pointer to give Texas A&M a 55-53 lead with 2 minutes, 15 seconds remaining.
MSU senior guard Craig Sword committed a turnover with MSU trailing 59-57 that enabled Admon Gilder to hit two free throws. Quinndary Weatherspoon’s 3-pointer accounted for the final margin.
“We had the ball a number of times and we made some bad decisions in transition,” Howland said. “Going for lob passes, 3-on-1 and throwing the ball out of bounds instead of just being solid and making the solid play.
“If we get a stop down the stretch, we have a chance to beat a top-25 team at home. As bad as you feel about losing, it’s encouraging.”
Howland’s decision to change from a man-to-man defense to a zone defense has helped the Bulldogs gain traction. He said he made the move to compensate for the team’s lack of depth and foul trouble that plagued the Bulldogs early in the season. The switch helped MSU build a three-game winning streak entering its game against Texas A&M. On Wednesday, the Bulldogs held the Aggies to 28.1 percent (9 of 32) in the first half, but they couldn’t capitalize.
“I thought the ball stuck too much,” Howland said. “Once we got the ball moving, we were able to penetrate better.”
MSU (7-6, 0-1) shot 42.9 percent (21 of 49) from the field and 26.1 percent (6 of 23) from 3-point range in a season-low offensive output.
“We just need to break it down and see all that we did wrong, all of our miscues,” said MSU freshman Malik Newman, who had 14 points. “We just need to get back to the things that we were doing at the beginning of the season.”
MSU opened the season with a 106-88 victory against Eastern Washington and showed an energy on offense that was lacking in Ray’s three-year tenure. The Bulldogs entered their SEC opener averaging 78.4 points per game and shooting 48 percent from the field, but the Aggies used an 18-5 run to end the first half. A D.J. Hogg 3-pointer before the buzzer gave the Aggies a 28-25 halftime lead.
Senior Gavin Ware had 15 points and 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season (16th of his career). All of Ware’s points came in the second half. Weatherspoon had 12 points off the bench.
MSU used a 13-4 run to take a 20-11 lead, but Texas A&M stayed in the game early thanks to 20 offensive rebounds. Even though the Aggies had only 16 second-chance points, they had balanced scoring, as Hogg, Jones, and Caruso had 11 points. Gilder had 10.
“I believe some of (the Aggies’ offensive rebounds) were long, but we were not giving a full effort as far as blocking out,” Ware said.
Texas A&M played without guard Danuel House — the team’s second-leading scorer at more than 15 ppg. A team spokesman said House was in Texas dealing with a “personal matter,” but he was expected back for the team’s game against Tennessee on Saturday.
MSU will play at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Arkansas. The game will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.
“I believe we’ve got a good veteran team and the guys that are coming in have a skill set and mind-set to jump in and catch on to things,” Ware said. “We’ve got veterans at each and every possession, so guys take them under their wing. You will see better from us in the next upcoming game.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Reports from The Associated Press were included in this story.
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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