MSU turns to Ready
There’s no doubt I.J. Ready is the leader of Mississippi State’s basketball team. Ready, a 5-11 point guard from Little Rock Parkview, is the Bulldogs’ only senior on the team. Mississippi State, which finished 14-17 last year, doesn’t have any juniors on the roster, and all of the scholarship players other than Ready are either freshmen or sophomores.
FAYETTEVILLE — There’s no doubt I.J. Ready is the leader of Mississippi State’s basketball team.
Ready, a 5-11 point guard from Little Rock Parkview, is the Bulldogs’ only senior. Mississippi State doesn’t have any juniors, and all of the scholarship players other than Ready are freshmen or sophomores.
“When you’re the only senior, you really have to grow up,” Ready said last week at SEC media days in Nashville, Tenn. “My main thing now is getting the young guys comfortable and getting their confidence up and leading the way for them.
“I’ve got to show them every day how hard it is to play in the SEC.”
Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland said he’s been impressed with how Ready is approaching his leadership role.
“I.J.’s having a really important impact for our young guys,” Howland said. “He’s the most vocal leader in our program, and he’s also leading with his actions, the way he brings it every day in practice.”
Ready has played in 85 games for the Bulldogs, including 64 starts, while battling through a series of injuries.
“I.J.’s the heart of our team this year,” said sophomore
guard Quinndary Weatherspoon, the Bulldogs’ top returning scorer at 12.0 points per game. “His leadership is going to be big for our young guys.
“He’ll get on the guys, but not in a bad way. He’s very encouraging. We all know that he knows what he’s doing because he’s going into his fourth year in the program.
“We’ve got seven freshmen that are going to have to play this year, and I.J. is going to be especially important to those guys, but he’s going to need to help lift everybody up.”
Mississippi State lost its top two scorers from last season in Gavin Ware and Craig Sword, and Malik Newman — a McDonald’s All-American — transferred to Kansas after his freshman season.
Howland signed a class that was ranked No. 9 nationally by 247sports, which is led by 6-8 forward Mario Kegler, 6-10 center Schnider Herard and 6-4 guard Eli Wright.
“We surely have a lot of talent, but these young guys come to me with questions about everything on and off the court,” Ready said. “I just want to be their leader and set an example for them and let them know I’m here whenever they need me.
“I also want them to know I’m going to get after them if I feel like they need that, but I’m also going to pat them on the back when they’re doing good.”
Ready said he doesn’t get frustrated when the young players make mistakes because of their inexperience.
“They play so hard all the time, so you can’t get frustrated by them,” he said. “Sometimes you just have to talk to them and tell them what to do and what not to do. But they’re very hardworking.”
Ready averaged 9.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 29.5 minutes last season.
“I.J. is a stabilizing factor out there at both ends of the floor, starting with his defense and his understanding of making good decisions with the ball and taking care of it,” Howland said. “A year ago at this time he was trying to be a scorer first instead of a distributor first.
“I think he’s really improved his game dramatically from where he was a year ago to this point right now. I’m really proud of him. I expect him to have a really good senior campaign.”
Howland said that during a scrimmage last weekend Ready had 13 assists and 1 turnover.
“I’m the best distributor we have, and I’ve got to do what’s best for the team first,” Ready said. “I take pride in getting my teammates open shots. I want to give them shots they can knock down. That’s going to give them more confidence. I’ll score when I have to, but I’ll start off trying to get everybody going. I think that’s my job.”
Mississippi State hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament since 2009, so this season is Ready’s last chance to make it.
“I definitely think we have enough talent to get to the NCAA Tournament, but it’ll be how fast we mature as a team and where our chemistry takes us,” Ready said. “We have to make sure we do all the disciplined things — rebound, play defense and don’t turn the ball over.”
Mississippi State plays at Arkansas on Jan. 10.
“It’s a special moment when I get to go back and play at home, but I want to play every game my hardest,” Ready said. “I want to go out and play my hardest — like it’s my last game — every time I step on the floor.”