STARKVILLE — Staying in the fight.
That’s what Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Ben Howland wanted to see from his program in his first year at the helm. It was a whole new system for the Bulldogs who spent the last three years learning from Rick Ray.
Howland was hired to replace Ray last March and an immediate turnaround began with the program. But it wasn’t always that easy for MSU who suffered some early losses that derailed momentum and led to a slow start in Southeastern Conference play. But through it all, they battled.
“That bulldog mentality of never giving up, never quitting, always fighting is really an important thing that we established this year in this program moving forward,” Howland said after the season ended with a loss to Georgia in the SEC tournament.
The Bulldogs finished 14-17 and 7-11 league play to finish 11th in the SEC.
After a season opening win against Eastern Washington, MSU lost its next three games, including losses to Miami and Texas Tech which both made the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs finished the non-conference portion of the schedule on a three-game winning streak with victories over Tulane, Northern Colorado and North Carolina Central.
But MSU couldn’t carry over that momentum to the start of SEC play and lost its first five league games. However, the losses weren’t blowouts and the Bulldogs had chances to win.
“I think for our players that return, I think they’ve learned the kind of attention to detail and how hard of work it is to be good and to win games in this conference,” Howland said. “I think that it’s really important that that leadership mantel be carried on and these guys become positive, good leaders for the young group we have.”
Howland relied on three freshmen (Quinndary Weatherspoon, Malik Newman and Aric Holman) down the stretch. Weatherspoon averaged 13 points per game and led the team with 14.9 points per game in league play after making the move from guard to forward. The Canton native earned All-SEC Freshman team honors from the league’s coaches. The five-star Newman had high expectations surrounding him, but injuries plagued him and he could never get into a rhythm. He averaged 11.3 points per game and 10.4 points in SEC games.
Newman was expected to be a one-and-done player and leave for the NBA after one year with the Bulldogs. His future is unclear at this point, but under a new proposal passed by the Division I council the 6-foot-3 guard can participate in the NBA Combine (May 11-15) and work out once per NBA team before making a decision. The deadline to announce the decision is May 25.
Howland said Newman and his family will have to make that decision.
“If he elects to put his name in and go through the process, we’re going to support him 100 percent,” Howland said. “And then if he goes through that process and elects he wants to come back, we’re going to welcome him.
“He’s a really good player. This was a tough year relative to the expectations that were heaped upon him, but in reality, he had a really solid freshman campaign.”
Along with the three rising sophomores, MSU returns rising senior point guard I.J. Ready.
Howland does lose five seniors (Craig Sword, Gavin Ware, Fred Thomas, Johnny Zuppardo and Travis Daniels). Sword, Ware and Thomas were recruited by MSU’s all-time winningest coach Rick Stansbury and coached by Ray for three years before Howland took over.
Sword admitted it wasn’t always easy, but they felt like they were laying a foundation, especially playing this season under Howland.
“I think I put a good start to what they’re going to be doing this year,” Sword said. “For the future, we’ve got some hard working players coming in and we’ve got some guys from this year. So it looks good for Mississippi State in the coming years.”
Howland brings in a solid recruiting class with seven players (Mario Kegler, Schnider Herard, Tyson Carter, Lamar Peters, Eli Wright and Abdul Ado). All six players that have already signed are four-stars, while three-star E.J. Datcher has yet to sign but is committed.
The 6-foot-7 Kegler was the biggest get for Howland, as he he picked MSU over several high profile basketball schools. Carter, a MSU legacy and Starkville native, was named Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Mississippi earlier this week.
MSU also has sophomore Xavian Stapleton who had to sit out this year after transferring from Louisiana Tech. He was going to practice with the Bulldogs, but a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee kept him sidelined.
Even with new faces, Howland feels like his team will have a tough mentality and will fight game in and game out, with an established style of aggressive man-to-man defense and an unselfish attitude.
“We’ll be beginning anew, but I think we have a foundation set of how hard we’re going to work, how hard we’re going to play and having a really positive attitude,” 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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