Men’s Hoops Eyes Myrtle Beach Invite

by Matt Dunaway, Associate Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State men's basketball head coach Ben Howland along with Tyson Carter and Reggie Perry had the opportunity to speak with the media heading into the team's first road trip of the 2019-20 season.

UP NEXT/TICKETS
The Bulldogs will play three games in four games during the 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational and takes on Tulane during Thursday's quarterfinal round. Tip time is on-tap for 1 p.m. CT from the HTC Center in Conway, South Carolina. The game will be televised by ESPNU and available online through the Watch ESPN platform.

Mississippi State's next home game is versus Louisiana Tech on Thursday, December 5th. Tip time is slated for 7 p.m. CT from Humphrey Coliseum. It's "Christmas Vacation" night at the Hump, and the first 500 fans will receive a "Cousin Eddie" style M-state branded ski alpine hat.

General Admission seating is now available at Humphrey Coliseum for men's basketball. Tickets can be purchased in advance for only $5 at www.HailState.com/tickets or in person staring 90 minutes before tipoff for $10 at the Humphrey Coliseum Box Office. Discounted online purchasing also ends two hours prior to tip time for each game.

Mississippi State is offering a pair of new fan-focused season ticket options for the 2019-20 season which includes the addition of general admission seating to men's basketball. A traditional general admission season ticket for seats in designated areas of the 200 level are available for only $155, while reserved seat season tickets are available for $275.

The second offering is a first-of-its-kind mobile access season ticket, the mobile access pass. This new ticketing option will provide exclusive access to already-sold lower level seats during non-conference games inside Humphrey Coliseum, and a 200 level general admission ticket for all conference games.

During non-conference play, fans with the mobile access pass will be digitally delivered a general admission ticket for a designated lower level section each game and will have access to sit in any open seat within that designated section. The non-conference option is available for $65 whereas the entire season pass is available for $180. Learn more about this new offering at www.HailState.com/accesspass.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by searching 'HailStateMBK' on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Mississippi State Men's Basketball Media Session
November 19, 2019

Head Coach Ben Howland
Q: What is difficult about playing at a neutral site tournament?
BH: "It's different, but the toughest part is playing three games in four days. We'll have played four in eight when you consider playing on Sunday. That's a lot of games all scrunched together. That's the challenge for us. We're playing, really, eight guys, and those guys are playing a lot of minutes. I'm really happy it's not the end of the year tournament like the SEC [Tournament] where there's no day in between. I think that day off on Saturday really helps all teams. I think it helps for the health and safety of the players honestly."

Q: How would you asses the team's shot selection through the first four games?
BH: "When you look at our overall field goal percentage, right now, at 49.3 percent. I'm pretty happy with that overall percentage. A lot of those are put backs. We are number one in the country right now in all teams in offensive rebound percentage. We're doing a great job at that end. I'd love to be able to tell you that we were number one at the end of the year in offensive rebound percentage. That' something that's really helping our percentages."

Q: What do you see as a benefit of these type of tournaments?
BH: "There's a lot of benefits. One is that you're playing really good teams on a neutral [floor]. I think it's great from that respect. A lot of teams don't want to play home-and-home. They don't want to come to Starkville, and I don't want to go to Philadelphia or whoever else we may play. That's just how it is. You get three games where you stay in the same place. I think is fun for the players, comradery wise, to go together to the tournament. It's a good experience. Usually, most of these tournaments are in nice places. We've been to Puerto Rico, we've been to Charleston [South Carolina] and we were in Las Vegas, [Nevada] last year … It's fun for the people who come along – family and friends are able to make the trip as well. Myrtle Beach is a nice place."

Q: Have you had a chance to scout Tulane at all?
BH: "Yes, what they're going to do is play all zone for 40 minutes. They've got a very talented group. Ron Hunter has done a great job throughout his career. At IUPUI, he took that program from division two to division one. He did a great job at Georgia State. They went to the [NCAA] tournament the last two years at Georgia State. He really has a nice system, but they run a match-up zone starting out at 1-1-3 – they're matching up with you. They'll also run some 1-3-1 and some 3-2 zone. They'll press back to you. So, you've got to prepare for a press."

"He's [Coach Hunter] has gone out and recruited. So, they have four high major transfers that are starting now for him. [K.J.] Lawson, who started out at Memphis and then went to Kansas, is now at Tulane for his last year. He's a very good player. He's 6-9, 220 pounds. He's a long and athletic four man."

"Jordan Walker, a little point guard, who started out at Seton Hall and sat out last year is a really good shooter. They really shoot the ball well from three. This kid is 9-for-12 this season from three and a very good shooter. [Teshaun] Hightower is a transfer from the University of Georgia. We played against him at Georgia, and he is a good player. He's 6-5, long, athletic, can shoot it, bounce it and get to the rim.

"The kid Thompson, number 25, transferred from Rhode Island and is a good player. They're older. They have this big kid inside, Chinese,[Kevin Zhang] who is one of the best players in all of China in his age group. He was on their national team. He's 6-9, 6-10 kid who's a sophomore there. He's very skilled and knows how to play. They've got a nice starting five that's very skilled and that all shoot the three. It's a matchup situation when you look at that. They're going to play extremely hard."

Q: Did you know this team could be so good defensively? How much better do you think they could get with Nick [Weatherspoon's] return coming soon?
BH: "I think Nick will make our defense better, obviously, because he's our best perimeter defender. I thought we'd be better because of our size. I think D.J. Stewart [Jr.] adds a lot defensively. Iverson [Molinar's] quickness and his length. Iverson, I think, he's 6-8 or 6-9 across, so he's long and athletic."

"The size of Reggie [Perry] and Abdul [Ado] down there, and they both have great feet. KeyShawn's [Feazell] is playing really great defensively for us. I thought [Robert] Woodard [II] had his best defensive game of the year guarding number one in that last game [Damion Rosser from New Orleans]. Rosser was a penetrator, and he was never really able to get by Robert. I thought Robert made a really positive step forward in terms of his defense in this last game. I'm really excited about that."

"If you go by back and look at the teams I had at Pitt and UCLA that were really successful, it started at the defensive end of the floor. That's what you control most night in and night out. If you can play good defense every night, you give yourself a chance to be in every single game. The greatest stat we've had so far defensively was that we allowed zero transition points against us against Louisiana-Monroe. Anytime you allow zero points in transition, that's very exciting."

Guard Tyson Carter
Q: Why do you think this team has been so successfully defensively?
TC: "A lot of guys have lot of pride on that end of the floor. A lot of teams that I've been on have been good defensive teams, but this year is just different."

Q: What feeds into you guys on the defensive end as of late?
TC: "It just lets us know that we can take teams out of their offense. Sometimes, even if our offense is struggling, we can still stop the other team and come out on a win. We focused on it a lot in practice. Nick [Weatherspoon] is still practicing with us. He's an outstanding defender, so we'll be that much better when he gets back."

Q: What's the energy like at a neutral site, and how do you keep the energy up?
TC: "You just have to bring your own energy. Last game, we did a good job of coming out with good energy. The first couple of games, we kind of started out slow so we want to make sure we start out fast and finish the game."

Q: What can you say about this team offensively?
TC: "I think this team is pretty deep offensively. We've got weapons. We've got Robert [Woodard II], D.J. [Stewart Jr.], Reggie [Perry] and guys off the bench who score as well. I think it says a lot about our team."

Q: What's it like to play with a guy like Reggie Perry?
TC: "It opens up a lot of transition. We've been trying to get out and run because we got a lot of guys who can get out of transition and score. D.J. [Stewart Jr.] and Iverson [Molinar] are really exceptional in transition and guys like Reggie [Perry] can make the passes to them. Robert [Woodard], too, is really good at transition and can get out there and run."

Forward Reggie Perry
Q: You guys seem to thrive off hitting the offensive glass this year, how much have you benefited in that offensive situation since last year?
RP: "I feel like [within] this year's lineup, that is our best attribute. Robert [Woodard II], that's one of his best attributes. KeyShawn [Feazell] is really good at it, Abdul [Ado] is really good at rebounding, and I feel like that's one of my best skills. I guess that's just being on the court more often this year, we just thrive a little bit more."

Q: What's it like to have guys like Iverson [Molinar] and D.J. [Stewart Jr.] who already thrive off of hitting the offensive glass at a young age?
RP: "Coach Howland stays on us a lot about it, about basically just going every time. That just helps us out even more. Iverson [Molinar] and D.J. [Stewart Jr.] hit the glass. D.J. is a really good rebounder for a guard. Iverson going just helps us get out better on a fast break."

Q: When you see Robert [Woodard II] have a game like he did the other day [vs. New Orleans], what does that do for you on the floor to see him to off like that?
RP: "It just makes it a lot easier for me. I know going into a lot of games that they're going to key in on me and Tyson [Carter]. So, him [Robert Woodard II] just stepping up like makes me happy for him. He shows every day what he can do in practice, so I feel like it helps us out as a team. I feel like this year's team is going to be more of where everybody is contributing, not just one main person having the biggest average. It's going to be somebody else's night every night."

Q: There were times last year that it seemed like everyone just passed the ball to Q [Quinndary Weatherspoon] and everyone would just stand back and watch. You guys appear to be sharing the ball more this year, has there been an effort to get more guys involved?
RP: "I feel like last year we played really good team ball, but in the back of our heads we knew that Q [Quinndary Weatherspoon] was our best player and scorer last year. He was the best scorer in the SEC in my opinion. So, just giving him the ball was the smartest thing to do. I feel like this year, it's just someone else's night each night. Sharing the ball is one of the biggest things that Coach Howland is trying to get us to do."

Q: I saw you getting frustrated at missing a couple of free throws, is there something that you can do to get that average up in the next few games?
RP: "Yeah, I just feel like I was rushing it the first couple of games. I know I'm a good free throw shooter. So, just getting back to my routine and getting a couple shots up after and before practice will help that out. I know in the back of my head, and Coach Howland tells me every day that I can make the next 25. I know I can do that."

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Men’s Hoops Eyes Myrtle Beach Invite

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