STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State men’s basketball team knocked Texas A&M from the ranks of the unbeaten in league play without freshman point guard IJ Ready.
Ready missed MSU’s 81-72 overtime victory Saturday after suffering a severe head injury Wednesday in a loss at Alabama. MSU coach Rick Ray said Saturday that Ready was diagnosed with a concussion. This is Ready’s second injury this season. The Little Rock, Ark., native missed four games early in November with a severely strained hamstring. He has missed five games due to injury.
“It’s in the hands of the doctors and the medical staff when we get IJ Ready back on the floor,” Ray said. “I have no update because I don’t want to interfere in their ability to do their job.”
Ray’s policy on injuries has been to exclude himself from the diagnosis and the rehabilitation to allow the MSU medical and training staff to make an assessment.
With 9 minutes, 12 seconds left in the first half Wednesday, Crimson Tide center Carl Engstrom ran over ready and was called for a charging foul. On the play, Ready’s head hit the Coleman Coliseum floor. He was removed the game and didn’t return. Ready had zero points, one assist, and one rebound in six minutes in the 80-61 loss. Ready is averaging 6.4 points and 3.5 assists per game this season.
Against Texas A&M, point guards Trivante Bloodman and Jacoby Davis had four assists, four rebounds, and two turnovers running the motion offense.
“I thought our guards did a good job today making sure the ball moved and got where it needed to go at the end of the possession,” Ray said. “To score 81 points and to shoot close to 53 percent is very huge for this team.”
MSU will play host to Auburn at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Humphrey Coliseum.
Texas A&M forward Jones ejected for conduct with officials after the game
Texas A&M junior forward Jamal Jones was on his way to being remembered for a career-high scoring day until he got into an altercation late with MSU players and the officiating crew.
With MSU leading 77-70 and 87 seconds left in overtime, MSU sophomore forward Fred Thomas and Jones got into a shouting match at center court that resulted in double technicals for both players. Jones said something in response to official Ron Groover’s technical foul that earned him a second technical and an ejection.
Jones, who had a game-high 24 points, was escorted off the Humphrey Coliseum floor past screaming fans into the Aggies locker room. After the game, Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy opened his media conference by apologizing for Jones’ actions.
“I’ve never had a team act like that and act with that kind of character,” Kennedy said. “That’s not the type of way I want a basketball team of mine to react and behave.”
Texas A&M (12-5, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) will next play at 8 p.m. Tuesday at No. 13 Kentucky. It is unknown if the league office will suspend Jones for that game.
MSU walks recruits into Humphrey Coliseum
MSU coach Dan Mullen walked several Class of 2014 prospects around Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
It has become a tradition for Mullen to walk the recruits through The Hump a big recruiting weekend. This time, he walked the dozen or more recruits around the court to a standing ovation from the crowd. In accordance to NCAA recruiting rules, MSU officials are unable to show the recruits on the video board or acknowledge their existence by name to avoid minor violations.
According to 247sports.com, MSU’s recruiting class of 18 verbal commitments is ranked 40th in the country, and 13th in the SEC.
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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