Mississippi State
6-5
Northern Colorado
3-9
Newman Has Big Night In The Big House Against The Bears
December 24, 2015 | Men's Basketball
JACKSON, Miss. – Malik Newman celebrated his Homecoming in style Wednesday night.
Playing in front of a large crowd of supporters in his hometown, Newman scored a career-high 20 points as Mississippi State knocked off Northern Colorado 93-69 before a crowd of 4,512 at Mississippi Coliseum.
The Bulldogs (6-5) fell a point shy of matching their season-high for margin of victory while winning a second straight.
“I am excited about the way we played tonight going into Christmas,” MSU head Ben Howland said. “Our unselfishness on offense was fun to watch. It starts with (Craig) Sword. He had four assists and was making unselfish plays. I.J. Ready had 11 assists and no turnovers.
“Malik (Newman) had a great game. He shot the ball well. He passed the ball well. He played well without the ball.”
MSU got a big lift from three Jackson-area players. Fred Thomas delighted the home crowd with 13 points, while Quinndary Weatherspoon returned home to score 10 points.
“My teammates did a great job of finding me,” said Newman, who played at Callaway High School. “It felt good to knock down shots. It was great to be back at home. The crowd was good, and we made some shots. It was exciting to be back here.
“I give a lot of credit to my teammates. They really push me and keep me focused during practice.”
Starkville native Gavin Ware added 19 points and a team-high six rebounds for the Bulldogs. Ready matched a career high with 11 assists as the Bulldogs shot a season third-best 58.2 percent from the floor.
“It is good to win these two games back-to-back,” said Thomas, who played at Jim Hill High School. “Going into (Southeastern Conference) play will be totally different. So we have to make sure we keep getting better. We won't play a lot of zone in SEC play, so we got to get ready for a much bigger challenge.”
After spotting Northern Colorado the first five points of the game, MSU battled back to take control. The Bulldogs responded for a 6-5 lead on two free throws by Newman. A follow-up 8-0 run allowed the Maroon and White to open a 16-9 advantage.
The Bulldogs opened up a 26-17 lead on two free throws by Travis Daniels. The lead later grew to 11 at 35-24 on a dunk by Weatherspoon.
MSU shot 62.1 percent from the field in the opening half and led 49-34 at the intermission.
In the early stages of the second half, Newman again got the crowd energized by hitting back-to-back 3-point baskets. The Bulldogs cruised to victory from there.
“Twenty-one assists on 32 baskets is what you want to see,” Howland said. “Our guys have three days off for Christmas now. They can enjoy their friends and family and can feel really well about how we played last couple of games.”
For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 32 of 55 shots from the field (58.2 percent), 8 of 23 shots from 3-point range (34.8 percent) and 21 of 26 shots from the foul line (80.8 percent). The Bears hit 26 of 55 shots from the field (47.3 percent), 8 of 19 shots from 3-point range (42.1 percent) and 9 of 13 shots from the foul line (69.2 percent).
MSU held a 30-25 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 21 assists and 12 turnovers, while the Bears had eight assists and 18 turnovers.
Northern Colorado (3-9) received 13 points from Dallas Anglin and 11 points each from Jordan Davis, Anthony Johnson and Jordan Wilson.
After taking a few days off for Christmas, MSU will gather back on campus this weekend and close the 2015 portion of its schedule by playing host to North Carolina Central at 1 p.m. on New Year's Eve. That contest will be available nationally on SEC Network +.
