MSU hopes win over Vanderbilt serves as a spark going forward
It’s probably best not to take too much away from any one basketball game.
However, sometimes it only takes a spark to get a fire going and for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, they are hopeful Tuesday night’s 80-62 win over Vanderbilt was just what the team needed to get going in the right direction. MSU snapped its three-game losing streak.
“This helps a lot,” Mississippi State guard Quinndary Weatherspoon said following the game Tuesday. “We wanted to get off that losing streak. We wanted to get back on the winning side. Hopefully the win boosts our confidence and we can go to Alabama (on Saturday) and try to get another win and get a winning streak going.”
The Bulldogs had plenty to like about their Tuesday-night showing. For one, the group played the unselfish brand of basketball that head coach Ben Howland has been preaching for his team to adopt. Of State’s 31 baskets in the game, 20 came off of assists.
“We were executing, sharing the ball and doing like (Howland) has been saying,” MSU forward Aric Holman said. “We were more patient and we were just focused on executing our plays.”
Seven different Bulldogs had assists in the game with six guys having two or more. Lamar Peters led the Bulldogs in assists with five, while Quinndary Weatherspoon and little brother Nick Weatherspoon had four each.
Yet it wasn’t just sharing the basketball that gave MSU a shot in the arm. It also knocked down shots.
The Bulldogs shot 48.4 percent for the game, and perhaps in an even better sign, they shot 40 percent (8-of-20) from 3-point range.
It was a welcome sight for MSU. In recent games, the Bulldogs haven’t found success from deep, even on open looks. State shot 31 percent or worse from beyond the arc in each of its three games prior to Vanderbilt, with 21.7 percent marks in two of those contests. It was a different story altogether on Tuesday.
Quinndary Weatherspoon credited MSU’s improved shooting on a new drill that Howland introduced in practice this week. Howland said it was something he picked up from his former assistant and current TCU head coach Jamie
Dixon.
“It was really just a fun drill that I got from (Dixon),” Howland said. “He gave me a drill they do every day. Our guys really had fun with it and we’ll be doing it again.”
Howland didn’t go into detail on the specifics of the drill, however it’s safe to assume it was another way for Howland’s guys to shoot more – something Howland believes is an answer anytime
his players get into a shooting slump.
“To be a great shooter, you have to get lots of reps,” Howland said. “(NBA legend) Larry Bird would shoot for an hour and a half on the day of every game. (When) you think about the great ones, they do that kind of thing.
“We just have to spend more and more time shooting.”
It’s safe to say there is still more room for the Bulldogs to grow. However Tuesday
night just might be a good starting point for brighter days ahead for them.
When trying to figure out this MSU team, it’s helpful to remember the group is one of only five teams in the country without any scholarship seniors. It’s still a youthful squad.
However Tuesday showed just how dangerous the young Bulldogs can be when all the pieces start to work together.
“I think our guys learning,” Howland said. are