Video: Howland, MSU Confident Ahead of 2017-18 Season

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – Year 106 of Mississippi State basketball officially begins on Friday when the Bulldogs have their first practice of the 2017-18 campaign.

Third-year coach Ben Howland will welcome 16 players to the court, including 11 that are on scholarship.

The Bulldogs, coming off a 16-16 campaign, return four starters, including All-SEC selection Quinndary Weatherspoon and Lamar Peters, who was tabbed to the SEC All-Freshmen Team.

Mississippi State, which opens the season at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 10 against Alabama State, also welcomes two highly-touted freshmen in KeyShawn Feazell and Nick Weatherspoon.

SCHEDULE NOTE
The SEC Network picked up two non-conference games for broadcast. Now on TV are the Nov. 30 game with North Dakota State (6 p.m. CT) and the Dec. 3 outing with Dayton (7 p.m. CT).

Tickets are on sale now online at www.hailstate.com/tickets or by calling 1-888-GO-DAWGS. Fans can purchase tickets to the Nov. 10 season-opening doubleheader by clicking the women’s basketball single-game tickets link on hailstate.com/tickets.

Below are quotes from Howland, Quinndary Weatherspoon, Aric Holman, Xavian Stapleton and E.J. Datcher:

Ben Howland
Opening Statement …
“We start Friday at 2:45 p.m. We are excited. I think this is our third year now with the new rule, I cannot remember, but for a while it was October 15^th you started practice, then it became the closet Friday to the 15th and that really made it hard to try to prepare. Getting ready for your first game and you only had three weeks. The way we start practice now, where we start this Friday, you get 42 days prior to your first game to practice 30 times; 30 days of practice I should say. Because of that, it is better for our players’ bodies. In the month of October, there are 31 days, 10 of them our players will have off and 21 of them they will practice. For the grind of a long season, I think it’s good that we did this. I was actually copying what the women implemented long before the men did years before.”

“We are thin when you look at our roster. We have 11 on scholarship and because of that, the biggest thing for us is keeping those 11 guys healthy. I really like our team and where we are right now compared to the previous two years. I like our culture, the leadership within the team, the fact that we have experience coming back so the guys have a much better feel for what is expected. We had a very good summer. One of the best by far that we have had. I am very optimistic as we go into this upcoming campaign, and I am excited about our team. We have a lot more experience than we did a year ago; we were the youngest team in the country, but we are still very young. We don’t have a senior on the team. That is a positive for me. We have experience returning, but yet we still have a young group that could stick together.”

On a starting five …
“Right now, everything is open. They are competing for playing time. The strength of our team is in our back court. We have six guards who all had great summers and who have improved. Starting with Quinndary Weatherspoon and then you look at Xavian Stapleton, Eli Wright, Lamar Peters, Nick Weatherspoon, and Tyson Carter —those six guys. What I am going to have to do is scheme the way we play to do the best job possible to utilize those six guys in the best way possible to get quality minutes, which means I am going to have to figure out ways to play defensively where we can play Xay defensively as a power-forward because it makes it so much better at the offensive end.”

On EJ Datcher’s health …
“EJ went into a major surgery with the labrial tear; he is back out at full contact. He did a good job last year with getting his weight down. When he was out with his injury, he put his weight back on. He isn’t where he was at the end of last season. Right now, he is going to play two positions for us, both the center position and the power-forward position. Trying to learn two position is much more difficult. I am looking at two guys on the team having to play multiple positions. That takes a lot mentally. He has good feet. He is going to be out there competing for playing time just like any of our other players. I am excited that he is out there and healthy. Now it is time for him to get out there to get a lot of reps and get better at every aspect of the game.”

On what players he sees playing multiple positions …
“I Nick Weatherspoon, for example, playing one and two. I see Q playing three positions. I see Eli Wright playing multiple positions.”

On Abdul Ado (everyone playing that position) …
“I am really excited about Abdul. Schnider Herard has improved from where he was a year ago. He is much further along having a year of experience under his belt. I think he has improved as far as his jump shot. I am really excited about his skill level as far as his jump shot has gotten much better. Our five spot between those two guys has become a lot more solid. We have a great tag team keeping a fresh body in there at all times. There will be times, potentially where they can both play together because Abdul is good enough, defensively, in terms of his lateral quickness, to be able to match up with a power-forward. There’s a lot of ways we are going to play this year; we are going to play small and big. Aric Holman has improved his shooting. KeyShawn Feazell is a kid that I think is going to continuously improve throughout the season. He has the potential to help compete and play for playing time at the four spot. He is a one position guy. He is strictly going to be a power-forward. There is a lot of competition that’s going to be taking place. The good thing about that is, that is how you get better as a player. You have to have that competition every day in practice and in individual workouts. Today is the last individual practice  of the fall until we start on Friday. They will have [Thursday] off. We will go Friday, one practice, two on Saturday and Sunday and Monday off.”

Xavian Stapleton, Jr., Guard
On starting the season healthy …
“It’s exciting. It means a lot. I haven’t been able to start a basketball season in three years. Every summer I’ve been hurt. This summer I just had the chance to work on my game, get back in shape and do all the things I used to do. I’m really excited for this season; I feel great.”

On his physical progress this summer …
“I worked on everything. Last year I just felt like I was kind of out of place, coming back so early. I’ve been able to work on my game and get my full game back. Now I feel like I’m better. I worked on shooting and ball handling, and I got my body leaner and bigger.”

On the potential success of the upcoming season …
“All our guys are coming back from last year, basically. Guys get better. It’s the same team from last year, but guys get better. Now, everybody’s coming together. Our chemistry is way better, and our work ethic is way better. Everybody’s in the gym. It’s just a better feeling.”

On the experience and maturity of the team …
“It makes a difference. Immaturity can affect you in a lot of ways. Guys worry about the wrong thing, on the court or off the court. But I feel like now, guys are growing up. After that first year, they say your second year is the year for you to really grow up and change some things. I’m really seeing that out of some of our guys.”

Quinndary Weatherspoon, Jr., Guard
On the group culture of the team …
“I think this is by far the best team I’ve played with in my three years here. I’m excited to see what the season is going to bring us. We’re telling each other to shoot the ball in practice, and we’re passing up a lot of shots we normally didn’t pass up these last two years. I just feel like our culture as a team is just way better than it was the last two years I’ve played.”

On his expectations for the season …
“I feel like if everybody can stay healthy and we do how we know we need to do, I really feel like we can make it to the NCAA Tournament this year. Once you get there, you never know what will happen. Anything can happen. I really believe we can get to the NCAA Tournament if everybody stays healthy.”

On his brother, freshman guard Nick Weatherspoon …
“He’s just improved all around. He’s improved his jump shot, the way he defends, and everything. He’s just improved as a whole player. He’s a way much better player than when I played with him those two years in high school. I’m excited to see what he’s ready to do on the college level. His shot is really improved. Those two years I played with him, he wasn’t a very great jump shooter. We kind of hid him and put him in the post a little bit. But it was high school, so we could hide him. I think his jumping has really improved.”

Aric Holman, Jr., Forward
On the group culture of the team …
“It’s just us as a team believing in each other. We’ll be in situations in practice where we used to depend on this person or that person. Now, it’s like, okay, whatever happens will happen. We believe in each other. That’s the biggest thing.”

On what the team is expecting out of the first few days of practice …
“A lot of talking and enjoyment. People will be ready to compete in a month for our games.”

On redshirt freshman forward Abdul Ado …
“He improved my game. He taught me to be more patient and to play through the physicality that the SEC brings. He teaches me to play hard with every possession. He’s so composed; you can’t rattle him. He’s willing to do anything to help his team. That’s just how he is. I helped him improve by staying in his ear. He likes to ask questions; that’s what going to make him so great. He doesn’t hesitate to ask me or another player on the team what he should do in a situation. His game is improving by competing and then learning from his mistakes.”

EJ Datcher, So., Center
On his shoulder injury …
“It didn’t hold me back. I played throughout the whole season with it. Toward the end of the season, it got a little more difficult to play. I didn’t really complain about it during the season. I played every game. It wasn’t anything too serious. I had surgery, and it just made it stronger. I’m still working out the same and shooting the same.”

On freshman forward KeyShawn Feazell …
“He’s going to be a great player. He has some huge hands, so he can really control the ball. He has a nice jump shot. He’s really strong in the post. He’s a freshman, but he’s going to get a lot of playing time this year.”