STARKVILLE — Nick Weatherspoon is second on the Mississippi State men’s basketball team in scoring, fourth in rebounding, third in assists and third in steals. Therein lies the freshman guard’s best weapon: MSU can lean on him to do some of everything it could ask a guard to do.
Doing it all as a freshman has Weatherspoon both in rare company among his same-aged peers and in the midst of a deep postseason run.
Weatherspoon’s production has been a constant in an up-and-down season that is currently riding one of its highest ups, sending MSU to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday’s (ESPN) semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) at Madison Square Garden against Penn State (22-13). If his freshman season has proven anything, it’s that Weatherspoon has earned the right to run free and do as he pleases on the court; if anything, his teammates encourage him to go further.
“We don’t like to hold guys back, especially when they have great talent like him,” junior forward Aric Holman said. “If we see something he’s not doing that we know he can do, of course we’re going to tell him.”
Unlike most freshmen, Weatherspoon’s season averages are without severe outliers. Weatherspoon is averaging 11 points per game and his 31 regular season games saw him score between 9 and 14 points 20 times; he scored fewer than six just one and more than 18 just once. He also averages 2.9 rebounds per game, a product of his grabbing between two and five in all but 10 of his regular season games. His 2.1 assists per game is a product of producing between one and four assists in all but six games in the regular season. All the while he’s been playing what MSU coach Ben Howland lauds as some of the best on-ball defense on the team, evidenced by his 33 steals.
His process for consistency is all about picking his spots.
“I just pick my points in a game where I feel like I can score the ball,” Weatherspoon said. “If I see I’m lacking in scoring, like I only have two points in the first half, I know I have to get it going and get more aggressive. A lot of time, I just know when we have Lamar (Peters), (Quinndary Weatherspoon) and Aric on the floor at the same time, it’s going to be a lot of their scoring and once one of those guys get subbed out I have to step up my game.”
He’s done it all while adapting to role changes. When the season began, Peters and Nick Weatherspoon were discussed as the team’s two point guards with the biggest question being how they would, in theory, coexist on the floor at the same time; time at point guard for Nick Weatherspoon has been few and far between. Instead he’s developed into an off-ball guard, primarily for Peters now and some for Quinndary Weatherspoon when Peters was suspended and otherwise struggling earlier in the season.
Nick Weatherspoon credited Howland for getting him sufficient reps in practice at both positions, granting him the opportunity to flourish in both. Howland throws the credit right back to him for the unselfish play that leads itself to the balanced stat lines Nick Weatherspoon has been giving MSU all season.
“He’s a great competitor, No. 1,” Howland said. “The thing that stands out the most is how competitive he is. To me, as good as he is defensively and how much he takes pride in it, it’s all about winning.”
Nick Weatherspoon wears that enthusiasm for winning on his person every day. His chest has two tattoos with MSU pride, the outline of the state over his sternum and a Bulldog logo on the outer edge of his right pectoral. Even when they’re covered with his MSU jersey, Nick Weatherspoon’s desire to win in any way shows up — in more ways than his stat line.
“He’s a guy that when someone else makes a shot, he gets so excited for his teammates and his team, I love that about him,” Howland said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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