STARKVILLE — A few weeks ago when the Mississippi State men’s basketball team announced an exhibition with South Alabama, MSU coach Ben Howland planned on having junior guard Nick Weatherspoon play in the contest.
Weatherspoon, who will be serving a 10-game suspension to start the season, will miss Sunday’s exhibition after suffering a concussion in practice on Tuesday.
“That’s probably better for us from the standpoint of we have 10 games coming without him, so we have to start getting used to it,” Howland said.
MSU fans will have their first opportunity to see how the team looks with a Weatherspoon-less backcourt against Division I opponent South Alabama at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Humphrey Coliseum. Admission to the contest will be free to the public with doors opening at 2 p.m. Sunday also serves as a charity exhibition to benefit the United Way of West Central Mississippi and those affected by the flood waters in the South Delta.
South Alabama, coming off a 17-17 season, features five players in its rotation that averaged 13 or more points per game last year. In addition to returning players Josh Ajayi, Don Coleman, Trhae Mitchell, that includes Howard graduate transfer Chad Lott and American University transfer Sam Iorio.
“We’re going to try and win, so we’re going to play our top guys,” Howland said.
Meanwhile, sophomore small forward Robert Woodard II hurt his toe earlier this week, but is hopeful to play against South Alabama.
Howland expecting big things from frontcourt
Give anyone affiliated with the men’s basketball team an opportunity and they’ll gush about the options the Bulldogs have at forward.
“I’ve never played with this many good guys,” junior 6-foot-11 forward Abdul Ado said.
Of course, most sets will be run through sophomore 6-foot-10 forward Reggie Perry, a first-team preseason All-SEC selection. Howland mentioned the Bulldogs have kept stats for every practice they’ve had and Perry is dominating the team’s rebound lead, with the next closest player being 60 rebounds behind.
“I’ve mentioned one of (Reggie’s) best skills is his ability to pass and create for others,” Howland said. “That’s something we want to continue to try and work on.”
But between Perry, Woodard, sophomore forward Prince Oduro, Ado and junior forward KeyShawn Feazell, the fifth-year head coach is expecting big production from that group.
“I think we have more depth on our front line than we did a year ago,” Howland said. “I’m excited about that and the competition we have there. Where we’ll be a little iffy here early on without the services of Nick Weaterspoon is on the perimeter. We’re so young in that backcourt.”
Senior Tyson Carter will start at point guard in Weatherspoon’s absence and will move to the two when he returns. In the meantime, look for freshman Iverson Molinar and redshirt freshman D.J. Stewart to see significant minutes early in the year.
Feazell tossing fried food to the side
When KeyShawn Feazell ended last season at 250 pounds, he didn’t like how he was feeling.
“I couldn’t move like I wanted to,” Feazell said.
So, Feazell got to work.
“In the time we had off, I did a lot of conditioning to get my body right,” Feazell said. “(I started) by eating better with no fried foods.”
Since the end of last season, Feazell is down nearly 30 pounds. He says he’s much quicker and leaner and hopes to contribute more than he did a season ago, where he only averaged 4.6 minutes and 0.6 points per game.
He’s still a regular at Chick-Fil-A, but instead of the chicken strips — the hardest thing to give up, Feazell said — he orders the grilled nuggets or grilled chicken sandwich.
“I have to stay away from fried foods,” he said. “I lost this weight and feel good about it so I have to maintain it.”
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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