STARKVILLE — This probably wasn’t the way Ben Howland imagined his 500th career win unfolding.
The 63-year old coaching veteran, with stops at Northern Arizona, Pittsburgh and UCLA before landing his fourth head coaching job with Mississippi State, anticipated reaching the milestone in last year’s Southeastern Conference tournament.
If the Bulldogs emerged victorious in their first round matchup, presumably against Florida, it would have been a monumental victory and likely would put the Bulldogs on the fringe of their second straight NCAA tournament berth. Nevertheless, you all know the story by now. A global pandemic brought the collegiate basketball postseason to an abrupt halt.
“I’m just really disappointed it didn’t happen last year in the SEC tournament,” Howland said. “That’s something that’s always going to haunt me, we didn’t get a chance to finish our season last year. We would have had a great chance to get that done. It’s something I’ll always regret didn’t happen.”
The chase for No. 500 had to stretch into November of 2020, with a roster stripped of its four best scorers from a season ago. Howland’s first two chances didn’t end with an optimal outcome. MSU scored the lowest amount of points in Howland’s six-year tenure with the Bulldogs in a season opening loss against Clemson, then allowed 19 3-pointers to Liberty a day later on a neutral floor.
Monday brought a bit of redemption.
Thanks to a dominating second half, MSU (1-2) picked up its first victory of the season, a 68-51 victory against Texas State (2-1) in the home opener at Humphrey Coliseum that put its coach into an exclusive club only 70-plus coaches have ever reached. Ninety-nine of those 500 victories have come leading the Bulldogs.
“I told our team after the game, the biggest thing I feel blessed about is I feel something that I love to do, and I’ve been doing it my whole life,” Howland said. “That’s what you have to find out as a person, to find out whatever it is that you love and are passionate about, to make it your life is such a blessing. I don’t know how many people really get a chance to do that but I’m definitely one of them and I’m very thankful.”
Following the contest, Howland’s players presented him with a celebratory token.
“We got to congratulate him with the game ball,” redshirt sophomore D.J. Stewart said. “We told him how we are so proud to have him as our coach and how blessed we are to have him in the program.”
There weren’t many people around to witness Howland’s big night. For the 2020-2021 season, MSU limited spectators at home games to 25 percent capacity. Overlooking Humphrey Coliseum from the upper deck of section 204, the actual attendance could have been estimated at well below that number.
None of that diminishes the newly reached milestone from the man that took UCLA to three straight Final Fours and coached various NBA players in his career such as Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Jrue Holiday, and more recently, Quinndary Weatherspoon, Reggie Perry and Robert Woodard II.
“It’s a blessing to have coached so many good players over a 26-year head coaching career and to work with so many great kids and assistant coaches,” Howland said. “I’ve really worked with so many great people over the years, so I feel really blessed to be around long enough to get up to that kind of number.”
After leading Texas State, a team that won 21 games a season ago, by a slim two-point margin at halftime, the Bulldogs ripped off a 15-3 run led by 3-pointers from Stewart to create a 15-point advantage.
“I thought we did a really good job defensively in the second half compared to the first half in staying in front of the basketball,” Howland said. “They shot 28 percent in the second half, so we did much better there.”
Stewart finished with a career-high 23 points on a 9 of 14 shooting effort, his third straight double-digit scoring performance.
“I felt like our defense gave us the extra push over the top,” Stewart said. “Our guys really made plays for others, and a couple guys hit a couple big shots to help us break it open.”
Sophomore forward Tolu Smith also finished in double figures for the third consecutive outing, recording 12 points and five rebounds.
Sophomore guard Iverson Molinar missed his third straight contest due to testing positive for COVID-19, Howland told reporters postgame. The sixth-year MSU coach is optimistic Molinar, who is asymptomatic, will make his season debut Friday.
“He has to have a doctor’s appointment (Tuesday) morning where he has to get his blood drawn and they will test his heart to make sure he doesn’t have that rare problem, myocarditis,” Howland said. “He’s had zero symptoms, he hasn’t had a headache, he hasn’t had anything. He’s really been lucky. The only reason he knows he has it is because he got tested. But we’re hoping he’ll be able to half practice on Wednesday, go three quarters of the practice on Thursday and be made available Friday for the game.”
MSU is back in action 7 p.m. Friday against North Texas at Humphrey Coliseum.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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