STARKVILLE — Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Ben Howland bowed his head both Monday and Tuesday and asked the media to take a look.
The second-year Bulldog coach has some hair on the top of his head and he is afraid he will lose more of it this year. The Bulldogs have a young team, including seven freshmen on scholarship and one senior.
Going through the process with the freshmen will be taxing and will give Howland a lot of worry.
“I want you to take a look at my head right now and then we’ll compare a photo at the end of the year and see how much hair I’ve lost by the end of the season,” Howland joked Monday.
This is the youngest team Howland has had. He couldn’t recall the second-youngest team in his coaching career, but felt like it was during his time at Northern Arizona (1994-99). MSU started practice Tuesday and open the season at home against Norfolk State 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11.
Howland had five seniors last year, including Craig Sword, Fred Thomas, Gavin Ware, Travis Daniels and Johnny Zuppardo. Even with all the senior leadership, MSU finished 14-17 overall and 7-11 in the Southeastern Conference.
Point guard I.J. Ready is the lone senior. Sophomores Quinndary Weatherspoon and Aric Holman are the other two that have experience for the Bulldogs. Weatherspoon, who earned All-SEC Freshman team honors, averaged 12.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game last season. Holman missed the first 10 games due to a micro fracture in his knee. He played in 21 games and drew three starts. The Owensboro, Kentucky, native averaged 1.9 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.
With few lettermen returning, Howland will be forced to use his young players.
“We’re going to be playing a lot of young guys,” Howland said. “We have six freshmen right now that are eligible to play and they’re all going to play. They’re all going to be in important roles on our team. We’re going to be, if not the youngest, one of the youngest teams in the country. That’s going to both be fun and exciting and also excruciating.”
The six eligible freshmen include former Starkville High School star Tyson Carter, Lamar Peters, Eli Wright, Mario Kegler, Schnider Herard and E.J. Datcher. Abdul Ado is on scholarship and going to classes, but he has not been cleared to practice.
The Bulldogs went to Europe in August and played four games. That gave Howland an opportunity to have some early practices and he feels like they have helped the freshmen. He said they are more conditioned at this point than they were a year ago.
Ready said he and the upperclassmen have had to be patient.
“All these freshmen come in and they weren’t grasping the concept of college basketball when they first came in,” said Ready, who averaged 9.2 points as a junior. “We were very patient with them and we’re still patient. They came a long way and they still have a long way to go, but I think patience is the key when you’re talking to them. They still have a lot to learn, even as games go by throughout the year. Patience, you have to have a lot of it.”
Howland’s first full recruiting class at MSU was ranked ninth by 247Sports. In the 2015 class, Howland was able to keep Weatherspoon and got five-star guard Malik Newman to commit. Newman played last season but he opted to transfer to Kansas where he will sit out this year due to the NCAA transfer rule.
Weatherspoon’s advice to the freshmen are to listen to the coaching staff and trust the process. That’s what he did and it worked out for him.
Howland wants Weatherspoon to be more of a verbal leader. He leads by example, but his voice needs to be heard in the locker room. Ready is the more talkative leader, but he said he wants to lead more by example.
“It’s a special group and they’ve got so much talent that I want to be able to not only give them knowledge, but actually help them and lead them so they don’t hit that freshman hump, as soon as many freshmen do so they can get over that hump and we can win games,” Ready said.
Carter and Peters impressed in Europe. Peters averaged 11.0 points and had a team-high 24 assists. Ready said Peters’ tenacity and demeanor will give him an edge.
Carter scored 82 points and averaged 20.5 points. He was 16 of 35 from 3-point range.
“He’s going to see a lot more teams focused on him, so it’s going to be interesting,” Howland said. “You want to create open shots for really good shooters. If we get Tyson Carter open for an open shot, it’s going in.”
Although Howland may lose some hair this season, he is thrilled about the possibilities that are in front of his freshmen.
“I’m excited about them because we’ve spent time together. I’m really excited about this group of young guys and we’ve got a great group of kids that are going to work real hard and represent,” 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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