STARKVILLE — Rick Ray doesn’t know what was said.
When asked about a players’ only meeting his team held last week after its 66-47 loss to McNeese State, Ray couldn’t provide any details.
“We had a lot of meetings, some good, some not-so-good,” said Ray, Mississippi State’s third-year men’s basketball coach. “I know the players came together and talked about some things. I don’t know exactly what they said, but hopefully they were the right things.”
That’s the hope of everyone involved with MSU basketball as the Bulldogs try to gain traction following an up and down non-conference portion of the schedule. With home losses to McNeese State and Arkansas State as the low points, MSU lost six of its last eight non-conference games to erase a 5-0 start. Despite the slide, hope remains. MSU (7-6) closed the first part of its season Friday with a 62-55 victory against Atlantic Coast Conference member Florida State. The victory gave MSU momentum as it prepares to play host to Tennessee at 8 p.m. Wednesday night at Humphrey Coliseum in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
“I thought Florida State, along with maybe TCU, was probably our toughest non-conference opponent,” Ray said, “so to get a win over a quality team like that can only help us going forward. What we have to do is make sure it carries over.”
That has been the tricky part for MSU this season. In November, MSU defeated quality mid-major programs like Utah State at home and Saint Louis at a neutral site, but it couldn’t sustain the momentum.
MSU’s first loss was to TCU in the championship game of the Corpus Christi Coastal Challenge in Corpus Christi, Texas. Losses to Oregon State, Arkansas State, McNeese State, and South Carolina-Upstate followed, as MSU’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) fell from No. 41 on Nov. 24 to No. 219 after the win against Florida State. RPI is a tool the NCAA tournament selection committee uses to pick the at-large teams for the postseason event.
Coming off arguably its best win of the season, MSU enters conference play needing a dramatic turnaround if it wants to play in the postseason.
“It’s about getting one win at a time,” said MSU junior guard Craig Sword, who has battled back from missing the first four games of the season after undergoing back surgery. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves and think one win over Florida State is going to make everything better. We have to go earn it one game at a time.”
Sword’s struggle to return from a herniated disc he suffered in the preseason has hindered MSU’s success. The Bulldogs’ leading scorer at 13.9 points per game a season ago, Sword hasn’t found his groove. He has played in 10 games and been held scoreless in four of them, including his first three. In the past three games, Sword has averaged nearly nine points per game, including an 11-point effort against McNeese State. Sword said he is “near 100 percent healthy, I’d say about 90” after the recent surge.
A healthy Sword could make a difference for the Bulldogs. An aggressive I.J. Ready also could provide a lift. A sophomore point guard from Little Rock, Arkansas, Ready was at his best against Florida State, scoring 12 of his season-high 14 points in the second half. He also showed a willingness to get to the rim, a trait Ray wants to see more of.
“The thing with I.J. is he’s fighting back from injury, too,” Ray said. “What we saw out of him against Florida State is what we want to see, but he needs to do it more than one time before I believe he has turned the corner.”
Ray hasn’t been shy about shifting lineups. In 13 games, MSU has used 10 starting lineups. Against FSU, Ray didn’t start juniors Fred Thomas, Gavin Ware, and Roquez Johnson, MSU’s three leading scorers. Instead, freshmen Oliver Black and Fallou Ndoye started in the post with junior Travis Daniels, Sword, and Ready.
“It’s about finding five guys that will start the game with the right energy,” Ray said of the frequent lineup changes.
Against FSU, that wasn’t a problem, as MSU led throughout. The key, though, will be finding a lineup that can hold up to the rigors of conference play.
“I have told these guys that conference play is a different animal,” Sword said. “You have to be ready to play every game.”
Ware, a former standout at Starkville High School, also has been beset by injuries. He missed two games and most of a third after spraining an ankle against Arkansas State. In his return to the lineup against FSU, Ware scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
“It’s hard to compare where we are going into conference play now as opposed to my first two years because of injuries,” Ray said. “In those seasons, we just had too many injuries, didn’t have very many bodies going in. This year, we’re hurt again. Maybe not to that extent because we have more bodies than we’ve had, but we’ve still battled injuries.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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