Bulldogs follow their leader Weatherspoon
NASHVILLE – Quinndary Weatherspoon had enough.
He had just missed a short jumper with five minutes left in the first half, which was shaping up as an ugly one for Mississippi State. To that point, MSU had committed seven turnovers, shot three air balls, botched two dunks and threw an alley-oop pass that found no one. Despite all that, the Bulldogs trailed by only one.
It was due time for MSU’s leading scorer to take the game into his own hands.
So on the ensuing possession after his miss, Weatherspoon made a steal at the top of the key and in transition flushed a one-handed dunk over Kieran Hayward. Next on defense, he forced Hayward to take a deep three. After the shot rimmed out, Weatherspoon tipped the ball into the hands of Xavian Stapleton. Weatherspoon then made a strong move and converted a layup despite two LSU defenders in the paint.
Those were the first four points in a 13-0 run for MSU to end the first half.
The string of plays was a sign of Weatherspoon’s lead-by-example style that led the Bulldogs to a 79-52 win over LSU Wednesday night in the first round of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena.
“That gave us the spark we needed,” Weatherspoon said, “to get over that hump and get this game rolling.”
Before the game, Weatherspoon, who had 19 points, said he liked MSU’s chances of making a run in the tournament. In order for the Bulldogs (16-15) to stick around for a while, Weatherspoon will likely have to continue to act as an on-court leader.
The same is likely true for MSU
next season as well, and this win — albeit one against LSU (10-21), which will reportedly fire Johnny Jones — provided the latest example of what the group is capable of.
“His leadership is important,” Ben Howland said. “Losing I.J. (Ready), who really is our vocal leader, we need other guys to step up and Q is the obvious choice because of his experience and the fact that he is one of our best players.”
But for the Bulldogs, there is basketball still to be played in 2016-17. MSU will face Alabama Thursday afternoon following the Tennessee-Georgia game, which starts at noon.
In beating LSU three times this season, the Bulldogs will try to avoid experiencing an identical fate against the Crimson Tide. Alabama (17-13) is a physical team that has beat MSU twice already this season, so the Bulldogs will need more production from center Schnider Herard, who was held scoreless, botched two dunks and had only one rebound.
Schnider was one of three starters for MSU that didn’t record a field with Ready and Mario Kegler being the other two. Howland said he would use the same starting lineup that also included Weatherspoon and Aric Holman, who had six points.
MSU’s bench produced 51 points behind big games from Tyson Carter, Stapleton and Lamar Peters.
Carter scored 18 points and was 4 of 10 from 3-point range. Stapleton had 13 points, six rebounds and a couple of highlight-reel dunks in the second half and Peters added 10 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals.
All three were critical in the second half. After MSU led 37-25 at halftime, LSU cut the deficit to 41-37, but Peters nailed a 3-pointer to push the lead to seven points with 16 minutes left. Weatherspoon’s three-point play on MSU’s next possession made it 47-37, and the Bulldogs pulled away from there.
Said Carter: “We didn’t want to go home that early.”
Contact Will Sammon at 601-961-7116 or wsammon@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter .