STARKVILLE — Malik Newman hasn’t seen a lot of action in the last three weeks.
The Mississippi State men’s basketball team’s freshman guard has been suffering from a turf toe injury on his left foot that has limited his practice time. He practiced Sunday for the first time since the injury, but his rhythm was off. That was evident Monday night.
“I’ve been off for three weeks, so I wasn’t expecting to come out and be myself,” Newman said. “I’m still trying to work my way into it. I know I’ll be fine.”
Newman’s debut for MSU yielded six points for the former Callaway High School standout and McDonald’s All-American. He also committed four turnovers in MSU’s 76-72 loss to Southern University before a crowd of 5,895 at Humphrey Coliseum.
MSU (1-1) allowed Southern (1-1) to shoot 56.7 percent (17 of 30) from the field in the first half. It also committed 19 turnovers, including seven by Craig Sword (team-high 16 points), who fouled out after playing 24 minutes.
First-year MSU coach Ben Howland said he was pleased with Newman’s effort, but he wasn’t surprised with his struggles because of the lack of practice time for his young guard.
“You can’t have timing as a basketball player if you haven’t been out there 5-on-5 practicing for three weeks,” Howland said. “His timing’s going to be off, which is understandable.”
Newman missed the Bulldogs’ closed scrimmage against Alabama-Birmingham on Oct. 31, MSU’s exhibition victory against Fort Valley State on Nov. 6, and the season-opening victory against Eastern Washington on Friday.
Newman checked in at the 14 minute, 41 second mark of the first half. The fans in the Hump came to their feet when he stepped on the floor. His first point as a Bulldog came on a free throw with 12:20 left in the half. His first field goal came with 1:01 to go.
Newman went 2 of 8 from the field, 1 of 5 from 3-point range, and 1 of 6 from the free-throw line.
“I think it was just a bad night for me,” Newman said. “I didn’t feel any pressure.”
Newman had a chance to tie the game at 74 with 46 seconds remaining, but he missed two free throws.
“They felt good, and I thought they were good, but unfortunately they weren’t,” Newman said. “I’ve just got to go back to the drawing board.”
Newman missed his final five free throws and said he can’t remember a time missing that many in a row.
Southern coach Roman Banks said the Jaguars knew Newman was a good player, but he also knew the time away from the court was going to be a big factor.
“He’s going to get his rhythm,” Banks said.” They were searching for their rhythm by playing him. Sometimes that’s a very tricky situation, the game is kind of tight and you’re still looking for chemistry.”
Newman said he felt fatigued in his 17 minutes, but he expected that.
The Bulldogs trailed 45-40 at halftime, but took a 49-48 lead with 18:32 remaining. The Jaguars re-claimed a 55-49 lead, but the Bulldogs used a 12-2 run to take a 61-57 lead, their largest of the game.
Southern re-took the lead with 8:25 left and didn’t look back.
Along with Newman’s struggles, the Bulldogs’ 19 turnovers led to 24 points.
“It was our miscues,” Sword said. “We were forcing it too much. We were trying to do too much.”
MSU scored 20 points in the paint after scoring 54 against Eastern Washington. Senior center Gavin Ware scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half, but he attempted only three shots in the second half.
Senior forward Travis Daniels said the Jaguars locked down the paint in the second half.
“They were doubling and they were trying to deny,” Daniels said. “It was just hard to get into the post on those guys.”
The Bulldogs made 11 of 31 3-pointers, and Howland wasn’t happy with his team’s shot selection.
“Part of that is dictated by their defense,” Howland said. “They play what is called a pack line defense where they’re really inside, when you drive they’re switching ball screens, and just flattening out on drives. We didn’t get a lot of penetration. We didn’t do a good enough job getting Gavin the ball inside. We’ve got to get Gavin the ball. We’ve just got to get him more attempts.”
The Jaguars shot 46.8 percent (29 of 62) from the field and 42.9 percent (6 of 14) from 3-point range. Trelun Banks had a game-high 18 points. Adrian Rodgers had 16 and Jared Sam added 10.
Newman said he feels confident in his abilities and knows he will live up to the five-star billing he earned as a prep standout.
“He’s disappointed I’m sure, No. 1 that we loss, but No. 2 how he played,” Howland said. “He’ll be fine. He’s a great competitor and a tough kid. We need him.”
MSU will return to action at 4 p.m. Thursday (ESPN2) against Miami in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. MSU will play Texas Tech or Utah on Friday. The tournament will end Sunday.
n In related news, Ware was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the week, the league’s office announced Monday.
In a 106-88 victory against Eastern Washington in last Friday night’s opener, the former Starkville High School standout scored a career-high 26 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and blocked three shots. He was 11 of 14 from the field.
The honor is the second of Ware’s career. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Dec. 24, 2013. He is the first Bulldog to earn SEC Player of the Week since Sword shared the honor with Florida’s Casey Prather Dec. 2, 2014. This is the first time a Bulldog has won the award outright since Arnett Moultrie Jan. 16, 2012.
n Four-star center Abdul Ado committed to MSU on Monday. He was expected to sign before the day was over.
He is the sixth player in the team’s 2016 recruiting class. He joins five-star small forward Mario Kegler, four-star center Schnider Herard, four-star shooting guard and Starkville native Tyson Carter, four-star shooting guard Eli Wright, and four-star guard Lamar Peters.
MSU has the No. 8 ranked class, according to 247Sports Composite Recruiting Rankings. Since Howland took over in April, he has landed seven four-star players and two five-star players. The Bulldogs had seven four-star recruits and one five-star recruit in nine previous years.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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