STARKVILLE — Scoring never has been an issue for Craig Sword.
Sword has scored in double figures in each of the past three seasons to lead the Mississippi State men’s basketball team.
Last season, Sword was bothered by a back injury that required surgery weeks before the 2014-15 opener. After missing the first four games of the season, Sword needed additional time to find his rhythm, but the Montgomery, Alabama, native still averaged 11.3 points per game. As a sophomore and freshman he averaged 13.7 and 10.5 ppg., respectively.
This season, with the addition of a talented recruiting class of Malik Newman, Aric Holman, Quinndary Weatherspoon, and Joseph Strugg, some of the pressure to lead the Bulldogs on offense will be off Sword. MSU also figures to have more scoring options if it can stay healthy in new head coach Ben Howland’s first year in Starkville.
“It’s going to feel great knowing I won’t be the only one everybody focuses on now,” said Sword, who added his back feels great.
MSU averaged 61.8 points last season, 67.7 points two years ago, and 60.6 points three seasons ago under former coach Rick Ray, who is now coaching at Southeast Missouri State.
But Sword has had a chance to play basketball with Newman, Weatherspoon, and Holman and feels how the program has been energized. He believes the expectations for the 2015-16 season are as high as they’ve been for any Bulldog team.
“Now they’re going to have to worry about Malik, Q (Weatherspoon), whoever, once they step up to the plate,” Sword said.
Newman averaged 29.7 ppg. as a senior to lead Callaway High School to the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state championship. He admitted in June that the weight room was his biggest obstacle, but he has overcome it and has added muscle.
Newman, a five-star recruit and the only high school player in state history to win four consecutive titles, said the newcomers and the returning players have meshed well and hope to finish summer workouts on a strong note.
“The only thing we can do is just keep competing, just keep getting better, and get prepared for the SEC,” Newman said.
Holman averaged 15.9 ppg. as a senior at Owensboro High, where he was a finalist for Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball, which is given to the state’s top player. The 6-foot-10, 195 pounder has worked with the guards and the big men this summer.
“He reminds me of Kevin Durant; real lanky, can dribble, and shoot,” MSU rising senior center Gavin Ware, of Starkville, said. “As far as in the post, he can make moves, but he has to get stronger.”
Weatherspoon averaged a little more than 19 points in his final year at Velma Jackson High. MSU expects to add forward Strugg to the roster when school begins in August.
Newman, Holman, Weatherspoon, and Strugg should round out a 12-player roster that also includes senior Fred Thomas, redshirt senior Travis Daniels, and sophomore Demetrius Houston.
While Sword has been the Bulldogs’ scoring leader, Ware is the team’s most experienced player by one game over Thomas. Howland said when he took the job he wanted to get Ware more scoring opportunities than he did in his first three seasons. The standout from Starkville High scored 10 points a game last season, but that number could go up because teams likely will have to pay attention to Newman and will have to deal with the continued emergence of rising junior point guard I.J. Ready.
“It allows me to get open looks and to get the ball,” Ware said.
There wasn’t much help for Ware in the post in the past three seasons. It also was hard for the coaches to replicate in practice what Ware was going to see every game. That, too, could change because Ware said rising sophomore Fallou Ndoye has stepped up his game.
“Fallou is like 240 (pounds). He’s not as easy to back down in the post,” said Ware, who also has lost weight. “Now I’ve really got to bring out my repertoire of post moves and stuff.”
Ben Wait is a sports writer for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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