STARKVILLE — Ben Howland wishes it was January.
With the way the Mississippi State men’s basketball team has been playing, who can blame him? After MSU lost nine of its first 11 Southeastern Conference games, Howland said the Bulldogs have grasped his lessons and have responded by winning five of their final eight regular-season games.
Howland hopes that momentum continues at 8:30 tonight when 11th-seeded MSU (14-16) plays sixth-seeded Georgia (17-10) in the Southeastern Conference tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
“We’ve played much better here the last two months of the season,” Howland said. “Our defense has improved so much. I think it gives our guys a boost of confidence and some momentum going in.”
The winner of tonight’s game will face third-seeded South Carolina on Friday night.
MSU’s last five wins have come against Arkansas, Vanderbilt, at Alabama, South Carolina, and Auburn. The losses have been to Georgia, at Texas A&M, and at Ole Miss.
MSU’s 66-57 loss to Georgia on Feb. 13 was surprising after it beat Arkansas 78-46 and appeared to be clicking on all cylinders, but Georgia played a zone defense that bothered MSU.
Georgia coach Mark Fox called MSU a “very good team” that is “playing outstanding basketball.” Fox’s team has won last three games against Ole Miss, at South Carolina, and Alabama and is fighting for a bid to the NCAA tournament. A deep run in Nashville could help Georgia realize that goal.
“I think whoever establishes momentum in Nashville will be the team that can maybe use it to their advantage,” Fox said. “I don’t think what you’ve done before Nashville will likely have as much impact. I think you’ve got to be able to get some confidence and get some momentum and carry that forward throughout the tournament.”
Fox said the postseason is like a new beginning for teams that didn’t play as well in the regular season. He said whatever a team has done in that time “goes out the window, to a degree.”
Howland doesn’t agree and believes the way a team was playing at the end of the regular season can carry over into the postseason.
“I think it can and should help teams that are playing well down the stretch,” Howland said. “We have been playing better down the stretch. Hopefully we’ll play our best game, which we’ll need to do against a team like Georgia who’s fighting to get into the NCAA tournament.”
MSU had chances to win all three of its losses at the end of the regular season. Against Texas A&M, MSU led 58-54 and 60-59 in the final minutes, but the Aggies prevailed 68-66. At Ole Miss last Wednesday, MSU hung tough in the first half and rallied to cut the lead to six, but it couldn’t overcome Stefan Moody’s career-high 43 points.
Despite the losses, MSU believes it has a chance to surprise people this week.
“We’ll still continue to play Bulldog basketball. We’ll still continue to have that team chemistry,” MSU senior center Gavin Ware said. “It’s just the process we’re going through, and we just have to keep persevering and keep moving forward.”
Ware leads the Bulldogs in scoring (15.8 points per game) and rebounding (7.7). He had 10 points and 12 rebounds on Senior Day in Starkville to help MSU beat Auburn 79-66 to clinch the 11th seed.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl was impressed with Ware and MSU. He said he will root for MSU this week.
“I really like Mississippi State’s team,” Pearl said. “I have all year. I know it’s taken them a little while to get to playing their best basketball, but if you look at the early SEC schedule they played, you can understand why they got out to a slow start. It’s a credit to coach Howland that he kept those guys together and that they found a way now to play in their best role, which they clearly weren’t earlier in the year. They’re a dangerous team heading into the tournament. I’m not saying that to put any undo pressure on them.”
Georgia has four players averaging double figures, including junior guard J.J. Frazier (team-high 16.4 ppg.).
Although MSU appears to have momentum, Howland doesn’t want his team to overlook the initial game.
“We’re trying to win one game, that’s Thursday night, so that’s all we’re looking at,” Howland said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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