STARKVILLE — Ben Howland didn’t want Quinndary Weatherspoon to rebound on the offensive end when he first arrived on campus.

The Mississippi State coach’s philosophy is to have just three players crash the offensive boards, leaving the point guard and shooting guard the duty of getting back on defense. When Weatherspoon was playing one of the guard positions, he wasn’t allowed to rebound.

That changed quickly when Howland realized how good Weatherspoon was at crashing the offensive boards. Since Weatherspoon made the move to power forward, his rebounding ability has shined. Weatherspoon and the Bulldogs (9-12, 2-7 Southeastern Conference) travel to LSU (14-8, 7-2) 5 p.m. (ESPN2) Saturday for a showdown in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

“He’s just around the ball,” Howland said. “He does a great job. He has a nose for the ball. He’s doing everything tougher.”

The Bulldogs have a lot of depth at guard with seniors Craig Sword and Fred Thomas, junior I.J. Ready and freshman Malik Newman. What MSU needed was help in the post. After Fallou Ndoye decided to transfer, that left the Bulldogs with just seniors Travis Daniels and Johnny Zuppardo and freshman Aric Holman, who was coming off an injury, at the forward position. The Bulldogs have veteran Gavin Ware at center.

So Howland decided to move Weatherspoon to forward. Rebounding hasn’t been an issue for Weatherspoon as he is averaging 4.3 boards this season and 6.1 in SEC play.

“I know once I got here I figured I needed to help my team rebound and I think that was a part of trying to win,” Weatherspoon said. “I felt like me rebounding could help us win.”

In a 76-62 win at Missouri last Saturday, Weatherspoon pulled down 14 rebounds, including eight offensive boards.

In an 82-80 overtime loss to Alabama Tuesday, the former Velma Jackson standout pulled down just six rebounds, just one coming on the offensive end.

Averaging 13.9 points in conference play, SEC coaches have taken notice of Weatherspoon in the last two weeks.

“He can play some three, play some four,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “As he becomes a better ball handler, who knows, he might be able to play some two. I like his game. I think he’s a nice looking young man and we were definitely concerned about him coming into the game.”

Offense hasn’t been an issue for Weatherspoon in his transition to a new position and Missouri coach Kim Anderson said the 6-foot-4, 202-pound Weatherspoon was a matchup problem for his team when the Bulldog scored 18 points to give him his first-career double-double. Anderson said he imagines Weatherspoon will be a tough matchup for anyone MSU plays this season.

Weatherspoon has been a nice fit for the Bulldogs and has exceeded all expectations in his first season, even his own.

“I probably would have laughed. I never thought I’d be playing the power forward position because all my life I’ve been playing the two-guard,” Weatherspoon said. “It’s kind of funny to me right now that I’m playing the power forward position and scoring 18 points.”

Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait

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