STARKVILLE — A couple of moments nearly brought the house down on opening night at Humphrey Coliseum on Wednesday.
In the first half, sophomore Sergej Macura had two attempts at a dunk go awry. The first was a foul, seeing the ball bounce back off the rim, and the second, though through contact, was simply a miss.
“I want to say, I don’t usually miss dunks,” the Slovenian said through a laugh in his postgame press conference. “My teammates know that, and that’s why they’re trolling me now and in the locker room.”
It wasn’t the last time, either. Twice teammates missed his run to the hoop for a potential slam or alley-oop, and once came in the final minute as a certain section of fans had an interest in MSU adding just one more point in the 86-62 win over North Alabama.
Macura’s debut may not have had a memorable play, but it was a positive performance from him and his fellow newcomers to Starkville in front of a packed student section.
“The first home game was amazing,” Macura said. “I really liked the crowd, the way they connected with us. The way we were feeding off their energy was just amazing. The 12 rebounds are a mirror reflection of the energy of the team, the crowd, everything. We tried to play hard, and they helped us do that.”
Josh Hubbard came out and ran the show, setting up teammates and keeping the offense flowing well with his new teammates. Ja’borri McGhee’s 14 points off the bench underscored his impact as well as Macura’s team-best 12 rebounds. The pair were part of a rotational group that helped spark life in the second half to turn things around.
But the star of the show remained who it has been for the last two years.
Hubbard was his typical, prolific self, leading the team with 27 points and eight assists, but head coach Chris Jans was most impressed with another statistic: no turnovers.
“He should have said eight assists and zero turnovers, which is more impressive than anything,” Jans said with a smile. “I mean, you guys see him. You don’t see him as much as I do. Sometimes I think when you don’t see something for a long time, you notice the difference more than me because it’s an everyday thing. That’s what I’m most impressed with. It’s his pace in the game; he’s obviously more explosive than he was. He’s driving the ball more, getting to the line… His pace and picking spots, and defensive attention to detail has been really good. He was great.”
Tried and tested
The Bulldogs moved to 1-0 on the season despite a sluggish first half and poor run to start the second half. Jans found a group that helped provide a spark, led by McGhee and Macura off the bench, to go on a 15-0 run and create some distance in the final 15 minutes of action.
He was impressed by the leadership from his group, but above all was glad to get a good look at his team of new faces. Five transfers and a handful of freshmen saw action, and had to get up to speed quickly with the game on the line.
“We’re still trying to figure out our team,” Jans said of the rotations and their approach to the game. “We’ve got a long way to go to really form our full personality. I’ve been talking about that with (media and fans), that it is what it is, with the newness in college basketball. I think a lot of coaches are talking about trying to find their way and establishing an identity, whatever that becomes. I know what I want it to be, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. This is a step in the right direction.”
Jans mentioned that he had scripted substitutions planned for the first half, trying to give himself a good look at which lineups and rotations work best early on. He wanted to give as many players an opportunity to prove themselves, and in the second half, he settled more on certain personnel groups.
He credited the players for getting themselves out of a tough spot after going down right out of the break, as well as the conditioning that saw the team create separation down the stretch.
“When you’re down in a home opener by eight like that, it can go south in a hurry,” Jans continued. “And our huddles were off the chart. Shawn Jones stepped up verbally, Josh Hubbard stepped up, and all we talked about is defending, rebounding, playing together, and echoing things they’ve heard from me. I thought that was a really good sign. We’re in the infant stages of forming what we’re going to be and who we’re going to be.”
MSU is on the road for its next game at Iowa State at 7 p.m. Monday. The game will air on ESPNU.
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