STARKVILLE — Things haven’t always been easy for Craig Sword, Gavin Ware and Fred Thomas.

The trio of four-year Mississippi State seniors have never experienced a winning season and have seen more heartbreak than celebrations in their careers, but fought through the hard times and believed in what their coaches were trying to do.

Their journey comes to an end though after coming in as bright-eyed freshmen in 2012. The three, along with Johnny Zuppardo and Travis Daniels, both junior college transfers, will be honored pregame as they play their final game in Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs (13-16, 6-11 Southeastern Conference) play host to Auburn (11-18, 5-12) 1:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) to end the regular season.

“We came in with a big job and we just stayed together,” Sword said. “Nobody ever left and we’ve pretty much been here for each other.”

Sword, Ware and Thomas were all recruited by MSU’s all-time winningest coach Rick Stansbury, but he resigned after the 2011-12 season ended and Rick Ray was chosen to lead the program. All three honored their commitments and played for three seasons under Ray, who was fired after compiling an overall record of 37-60 and a 13-41 mark in SEC play.

Legendary coach Ben Howland, who led Northern Arizona, Pittsburgh and UCLA to NCAA Tournament appearances, was hired as the new coach last March. Although their careers have not been as successful as they would have liked and they have had to experience three different coaching staffs, Sword feels like it has all worked out for the best.

“I think everything just fell into place once I got here,” Sword said. “I ended up being ‘the guy’ here. That probably would have never happened if I went somewhere else.”

When Howland took over, he began to change the culture and the three had to learn a new system. But they have helped lay the foundation for what Howland wants to accomplish.

With high expectations surrounding the team, the Bulldogs struggled early and struggled in the first few conference games. Howland said the seniors really began to hit their stride in his system five or six games into conference play.

“I think that all three of those kids have really worked hard,” Howland said. “I just wish I would have them for another year. I guarantee you that those three guys would be a lot better than they are now if they were back for another year.”

Sword led the Bulldogs in scoring as a freshman, sophomore and junior, but Ware, a Starkville native, leads the Bulldogs with a 16.0 scoring clip this season. Playing from the beginning, all three have scored 1,000 points or more in their careers.

Sword said the one thing that will stand out about his career is his leadership qualities and the energy he brought day in and day out.

The three became leaders early on as they were short-handed and there wasn’t a nucleus of upperclassmen to look up to. That hasn’t been the case for the freshmen this season. Malik Newman, Quinndary Weatherspoon and Aric Holman have not had to assume leadership roles with Sword, Thomas and Ware leading the way.

“I think they did a terrific job this year of just leading the way, showing us young guys what it was going to take and how we had to put in hard work each and every day to get better as an individual and as a team,” Newman said.

Sword said he never entertained the thought of transferring after things were not easy early in his career. He said he always knew he was coming to MSU and made up his mind early on that he was never leaving.

“It’s been tough,” Sword said. “I really can’t explain what we’ve all been through. I would never change anything that happened.”

Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait

Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.