STARKVILLE — Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Ben Howland laughed when asked about I.J. Ready’s health.
The last three months haven’t been kind to Ready. Mononucleosis hindered Ready from playing in August on a trip to Italy, while acid reflux has brought on nausea and kept him from practicing. Howland said last week Ready had an endoscopy that discovered a hiatal hernia that was causing the acid reflux. Howland said Wednesday the endoscopy also showed bacteria in Ready’s stomach. He said doctors are treating the bacteria with antibiotics.
Howland said Ready tweaked an ankle in Tuesday’s practice and he was going to be held out of Wednesday’s practice.
Despite the ups and downs, Ready has tried to stay positive in the last three months well. He hopes to be able to play at 7 tonight when MSU plays host to Norfolk State in its season opener at Humphrey Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
“I’m feeling good. I’m not injured,” Ready said. “There’s a difference between being injured and having nicks and knacks.”
To avoid the acid reflux, Ready said he hasn’t been eating fast food and has to tried to eat non-genetically modified foods. He can’t drink orange juice or eat chocolate.
Ready’s problems started when he was warming up for the first game in Italy. A trainer diagnosed him with mononucleosis and pulled him off the court. The move forced Ready to watch from the bench on the rest of the trip.
As the team’s only senior, Ready has assumed a leadership role. Howland wants sophomore forward/guard Quinndary Weatherspoon to take a more vocal leadership role, but Ready it’s pretty quiet in practice if he doesn’t talk.
“I think I’ve been beating myself up about it,” said Ready, who averaged 9.2 points and 4.5 assists last season. “I try to stay focused. I get tired being on the sideline watching. You’re there for two or three hours just watching them. It’s harder for them to listen to you when you’re not in practice because you’re so far away from them. I stay focused and just try to talk to them as much as I can. I run out onto the floor and talk to them.”
After playing through an ankle injury toward the end of last season, Ready had surgery in April.
“If we were playing a game today, he could play,” Howland said Wednesday. “It doesn’t make sense to bang up his ankle he just tweaked (Tuesday). He doesn’t have a lot of swelling in it, but he definitely sprained it. He’s had that issue before.”
Howland said freshman Lamar Peters will start if Ready isn’t able to play. He said Peters had a groin tweak.
Ready has tried to keep the same attitude through the assorted injuries and ailments. With his history, he said it has been easy.
“I’ve played through being hurt all the time,” Ready said. “It’s not a big deal to me. I don’t let it get to me.”
n In related news, Weatherspoon was named to the preseason All-Southeastern Conference first team by the league’s coaches, the SEC announced Thursday.
Weatherspoon, who was named to the All-SEC second team last month by the media, averaged 12 points and 4.7 rebounds last season and earned All-SEC Freshman honors.
Moses Kingsley (Arkansas), J.J. Frazier and Yante Maten (Georgia), Edrice “Bam” Adebayo and De’Aaron Fox (Kentucky), Sindarius Thornwell (South Carolina), and Tyler Davis (Texas A&M) rounded out the All-SEC first team.
Ole Miss’ Sebastian Saiz was named second-team All-SEC. Dusty Hannahs (Arkansas), KeVaughn Allen and John Egbunu (Florida), Isaiah Briscoe and Malik Monk (Kentucky), Antonio Blakeney (LSU), and Matthew Fisher-Davis and Luke Kornet (Vanderbilt) rounded out the All-SEC second team.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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