STARKVILLE — First-year Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Ben Howland has coached in Bud Walton Arena once.
Even though nearly 10 years has past since Howland last coached in the building, he knows the home of the Arkansas Razorbacks is one of the toughest places to play in the country and in the Southeastern Conference.
That’s the test Howland and MSU (7-6, 0-1 SEC) will face at 2:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) when they face Arkansas (7-7, 1-1) in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
“They play really well at home because of the great atmosphere, along with being a really good team and a well coached team,” Howland said.
Howland was the men’s basketball coach at Northern Arizona in March 1997 when he took his team to Bud Walton Arena for the postseason National Invitational Tournament. Howland and Northern Arizona lost 101-75.
Arkansas is 20-5 against MSU in Fayetteville. It leads the series 32-25. MSU’s last win in Fayetteville came in 2011 it swept the season series under its all-time winningest coach Rick Stansbury.
The Razorbacks are 7-2 at home this season with losses to Akron (88-80) and Mercer (69-66 in overtime). The Mercer game was played at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said it’s hard to win on the road in college basketball in general no matter what conference or venue.
“You’ve got a lot of things going against you,” Anderson said. “The way you off set that is you have a great shooting night, have some great players, and have a great game that particular night.”
MSU lost its only true road games to Missouri-Kansas City (72-67) and Florida State (90-66) in back-to-back games in December.
MSU is coming off a 61-60 loss to Texas A&M on Wednesday. Senior center Gavin Ware leads the Bulldogs in scoring (17.5 points per game) and rebounding (8.2). The former Starkville High School standout is the only MSU player to score in double digits in all 13 games. He is the first Bulldog player since Erick Dampier in 1995-96 season to do that.
Freshman guard Malik Newman is averaging 13.3 ppg., while senior guard Craig Sword (11.7) and junior point guard I.J. Ready (10.3) also are scoring in double figures.
Junior forward Moses Kingsley leads Arkansas in scoring (17.1 ppg.) and rebounding (9.9). Senior guard Anthlon Bell is averaging 16.8 ppg., and Texas Tech transfer and junior Dusty Hannahs is averaging 15.6 ppg. Arkansas opened SEC play Saturday with a 92-69 loss at Texas A&M. Arkansas defeated Vanderbilt 90-85 in overtime Tuesday at Bud Walton.
After his team’s loss to Texas A&M, Howland will look to its veterans as it attempts to make a quick turnaround.
Along with holding a home-court advantage, the Razorbacks play a unique style of basketball. Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson installed an up-tempo style of play when he took over the Arkansas program in 1985. Anderson served as an assistant coach under Richardson at Tulsa and Arkansas and helped him develop his style.
Anderson, who said he has an inexperienced team, still uses it today, but the Razorbacks are 13th in the league in scoring defense (77.5 ppg.). Arkansas is second in the league by scoring (83.9 ppg.).
“It’s hard to simulate Arkansas’ defense,” Howland said. “No one else in our conference plays like that, with that trapping, pressing, doubling. We’re going to practice real hard, but we’re going to have to make plays and be aggressive offensively. When they’re trapping you, you’ve got to be able to take care of the basketball.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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