Howland wants Bulldogs to grow through adversity
A disturbing trend is developing for Mississippi State’s men’s basketball team.
For three games in a row now, the Bulldogs have either blown a big lead or seen the game get completely away from them in the second half. As a result, the losses are starting to pile up.
Yet Ben Howland, Mississippi State’s veteran head coach who has been through many ups and downs in his more than twodecade-long career, says he isn’t concerned things are snowballing downhill for his Bulldogs.
“I think we’re young, but we’re going to learn from this,” Howland said after MSU’s latest loss, a 76-68 defeat at the hands of No. 22 Auburn on Saturday. “We have to learn to protect leads a little better.”
Mississippi State, who sits at 13-4 overall and 1-3 in Southeastern Conference play this year, has shown signs this season it can be a very good basketball team. The Bulldogs upset then-nationally-ranked Arkansas in their SEC opener earlier this month. MSU had halftime leads at Ole Miss, then on Saturday against Auburn. In both the Ole Miss and Auburn games, State built 13-point leads only to see those advantages dissipate.
Howland insisted Saturday he’s not too worried about the trend of losing leads and playing poorly in the second half of games. He’s just hopeful the Bulldogs are developing as a team through the adversity.
MSU junior guard Quinndary Weatherspoon said that development starts with his team having a greater sense of urgency late in games.
Twice in a week-long span Weatherspoon and his teammates let games slip away in the second half. An obviously-disappointed Weatherspoon bemoaned what he believes is the reason why on Saturday.
“We have to come out better in the second half of games and not be so nonchalant,” Weatherspoon said. “We have to play like we do in the first half.
“Sometimes we leave the first half with a lead going into halftime. I think we have that lead going into halftime and we let our guard down sometimes. I think that’s why we have had slow starts in second halves.”
Howland disagreed with Weatherspoon’s assessment that MSU has been nonchalant at times in the second half of games.
“I certainly hope not,” Howland said. However, for whatever reason, MSU is stuck in a bit of a rut. A season that began with a promising 13-1 start is suddenly on the brink of sliding downhill fast if the Bulldogs can’t figure out a way to close games out.
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