STARKVILLE — There is one constant Rick Ray knows the Mississippi State men’s basketball team will need if it wants to have any success this season: Gavin Ware has to stay out of foul trouble.
With no depth behind the 6-foot-9 sophomore center, Ray understands the Bulldogs’ chances of winning will go down the longer Ware sits on the bench with fouls.
However, with the new points of emphasis for officials that are designed to reduce the physicality of play, it has been difficult for post players to stay out of foul trouble. Ware avoided those problems in MSU’s season-opening victory against Prairie View A&M, scoring 15 points and grabbing 15 rebounds while only earning one foul. Without having to worry about being too aggressive, Ware grabbed seven offensive rebounds and was active on defense and altered several shots in the paint.
“It’s important that Gavin play that way because what’s happening so much in college basketball nowadays is people are using ball screens,” Ray said Thursday in a teleconference. “They use their center to ball screen, so Gavin is always in a position to guard the ball because of the ball-screen action.”
If the guard doesn’t pull up or pass the ball, he likely will try to feed the post, which means Ware will have to make sure he is in position to guard the paint and his man. He will have to juggle all of those responsibilities knowing MSU doesn’t have many front-court options on the bench. Starting forward Colin Borchert (6-9) and reserve forward Roquez Johnson (6-7) are the only other Bulldogs taller than 6-5.
“What we always stress with our post guys is you can’t pick up fouls in the post if you don’t allow them to catch the ball in the post,” Ray said. “We want to make sure we hard three-quarter or completely front the post to make sure that touch isn’t allowed at all times.”
Ware’s ability to guard the post will be tested at 7 tonight when MSU (1-0) plays host to a Kennesaw State team that has five players from 6-7 to 6-11.
“The one thing that jumps out at you about Kennesaw State is their length because their wings are 6-foot-5 to 6-7,” Ray said.
The major inside threat for the Owls (1-3) is Willy Kouassi, a 6-foot-11 transfer from Auburn, who is from the Ivory Coast. Willy Kouassi attended Central Park Christian Academy in Birmingham, Ala., and was ranked 66th nationally by Rivals.com and was the seventh-best center in the country coming out of high school. After redshirting last year in his transfer season, Kouassi is averaging more than 20 minutes in his past two starts.
“He’s 240 pounds,” Ray said. “Guys like that who have length and girth in the center position give Gavin Ware problems, so they have just more height than us at pretty much every position.”
Ray challenged Ware at halftime of the 71-56 victory against Prairie View and was pleased with the way his 262-pound center responded.
“I didn’t think Gavin played very well in the first half of the opener, but he got more aggressive and was able to stay on the floor without fouling,” Ray said.
Kennesaw State lost to Youngstown State, Eastern Kentucky, and Florida International but routed Division II Warren Wilson 92-48 on Monday. KSU, a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, has never posted a winning season since moving up to Division I in 2005.
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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