STARKVILLE — Mississippi State freshmen basketball players Malik Newman and Quinndary Weatherspoon are aware of the recent struggles of the men’s basketball program.
However, the freshmen are taking the stories of the veterans in stride. They are also working hard to make it a brighter future.
Newman and Weatherspoon combined for 29 points Thursday as MSU blew out North Carolina Central 71-48 in the final non-conference game of the season at Humphrey Coliseum.
Southeastern Conference play begins Wednesday when No. 20 Texas A&M comes to Starkville for a 7:30 p.m. matchup at the Hump. It is the first game back for former MSU head man Rick Stansbury, who is in his second season as an associate head coach with the Aggies.
“We are really focused totally on Texas A&M and getting conference play off to a good start,” Newman said. “The guys are feeling good because we have won three games in a row, but we know we have a long way to go. All we can do is now is focus on each conference game and make sure we are getting better.”
MSU (7-5) had four separate three-game win streaks under former coach Rick Ray with one streak getting to five games. No such streak took place during conference play. Ben Howland was hired last March to reverse the recent struggles of a program, which won 13 conference games in three seasons under Ray.
“SEC play is really tough,” MSU senior Gavin Ware said. “We have a lot of guys who have gone through the battles. For the veterans, our job is to show the new guys what it is all about. We know we have some guys who can play. We just got to make sure we stay level-headed and we don’t lose our confidence. Confidence is a really important thing when you trying to win games in the league, especially on the road.”
Newman is rounding into shape after battling turf toe early in the season. He also been battling cramps. Howland said he has brought in some nutrition specialists to make sure that Newman has the proper diet and is taking in the right amount of fluids to fight the cramping.
Howland also said Weatherspoon had a chance to be “an electrifying player” in the league, even as early as this season. To go along with his 14 points, Weatherspoon had seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in 24 minutes of play. Howland called that a “rising star stat line.”
A give-and-go led Newman to throw a three-quarters pass to a streaking Weatherspoon who had the flush, bringing the crowd of 2,016 to its feet. It showed the health of Newman and it also showed the potential of this dynamic duo.
MSU won its third straight without much of a threat.
North Carolina Central (5-9) never led and struggled mightily on the offensive end in the first half.
The Eagles hit just 6 of 34 shots in the first half. MSU led 37-17 at the intermission.
Howland praised his team’s best defensive effort of the season but lamented giving up 25 offensive rebounds.
“We have really made some great strides on the defensive end of the floor,” Howland said. “The guys are understanding how hard we have to play on that end to have any shot at being competitive.”
MSU scored the game’s first five points and quickly built a 9-2 lead. The lead quickly spread to 14 points at 22-8.
It was newfound territory for an MSU squad which a month ago lost a four-point decision to Southern University. Ironically, that same Southern squad handed North Carolina Central a five-point loss two weeks ago.
The Eagles though proved no match for the Bulldogs on this day. For the contest, NC Central hit 17 of 72 shots for 23.6 percent shooting. The lead grew to as many as 31 before a late run against reserves in the end in closing seconds.
“For this team, it was a good win,” Weatherspoon said. “We didn’t finish earlier in the year against some teams. We are getting better at that. We have to everything rolling for league play.”
Ware finished with a team-high 16 points. He fell one rebound shy of a double-double as he had nine boards. Ware has scored in double figures in all 12 games this season and has led the team in scoring six times.
“I think everybody is excited about conference play,” Ware said. “Everybody would like the record to be a little better but we know as a team we are getting better. For the seniors, we want our last year in the league to be special.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.