STARKVILLE — Once again, the Mississippi State men’s basketball team had a subpar first half offensively.
Once again, MSU turned to its defense to fix it.
MSU had six of its nine second-half steals in the first 9 minutes, 4 seconds of the period Wednesday night to turn a three-point halftime lead into a 64-48 victory against Little Rock before a crowd of 7,156 at Humphrey Coliseum.
“Our defense, in a lot of games, has started our offense. You begin runs on the defensive end of the floor and that’s what we’ve done,” said MSU coach Ben Howland, whose team improved to 10-1.
Said freshman forward Abdul Ado, “Most of our points come off of our defense. We get teams to turn the ball over and our points come off those turnovers. We try to get that as much as we can, and we pride ourselves on defense.”
On a night MSU shot 39.3 percent from the field and missed 19 of its first 25 shots, junior guard Quinndary Weatherspoon had 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field and added eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a blocked shot. Weatherspoon also was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. He went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line with 2 minutes, 8 seconds remaining in the first half to reach 1,000 career points and then eclipse the mark. Weatherspoon’s 13 first-half points helped him become the 37th player in school history to reach the milestone.
Weatherspoon is on pace to come close to or to break into the list of MSU’s top 20 scoring leaders before the end of the season.
Weatherspoon’s free throws gave MSU the lead for good, 24-23. It led 26-23 at halftime before had six steals in the first 9:04 of the second half to extend its lead to 50-31 following a steal by Lamar Peters and a pass to Weatherspoon for a dunk.
“We (are) coming out flat in the first half, and I think that’s something we need to change,” Weatherspoon said. “Once we come out of halftime, I think we get our minds right and play harder in the second half.”
Neither Weatherspoon nor Ado could explain why the Bulldogs have started slowly in recent games.
Howland, though, said he might have practiced the team a little too hard on the day before the last two games. He hinted he could change that approach prior to MSU’s game Saturday against Southern Mississippi.
Howland also was quick to credit Little Rock (3-10) for a job well done.
“In the first half, I thought they did some really smart things,” Howland said. “They were very patient offensively, so they were trying to grind us down defensively. “They had a bunch of shots that went down in the final 10 seconds of the shot clock.”
MSU scored 22 of its 27 points off turnovers in the second half to turn the tables.
Aric Holman (10 points) was the only other MSU player in double figures. Ado added a game-high 13 rebounds and three blocks. Peters had a game-high four assists.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
