Just days before tipping off the regular season at home against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Moccasins, the youthful Mississippi State basketball team has gotten even younger.
With senior Jamall Edmondson, State’s highest-scoring returning player from the 2004-05 season, sidelined with injury, the starting point guard responsibilities for opening night will be placed on the slight shoulders of true freshman Richard Delk.
“(Jamall) is out indefinitely,” head coach Rick Stansbury said. “He’s got a pulled groin, and I don’t know when we’ll get him back. I’m not real optimistic very quickly.”
Stansbury described Edmondson’s injury as a “freak accident” suffered during a practice before last Saturday’s win against the West Florida Argonauts.
“(Edmondson) was just dribbling up the court,” he said. “He made a quick explosion, trying to change pace, and just pulled it. He’s such an unflexible player anyway. He’s all muscle, and for him to pull a groin, it’s a pretty serious thing.”
The prospect of starting at point in your first regular season game for a basketball program that has punched an NCAA Tournament ticket the past four seasons would intimidate most 18-year-olds, but for Delk, his attitude is quite the opposite.
“It’s alright. I just like playing basketball,” Delk said. “You don’t feel any pressure when you love the game. You can just go out there and play.”
Stansbury, on the other hand, is slightly more concerned about the inexperience of Delk-as well as his twin brother Reginald -but also can’t help but show his enthusiasm for the newcomers’ exceptional talent levels.
“I love what those two kids are going to be,” Stansbury said. “They’ve got great basketball instincts. They’re basketball players that can manufacture baskets for other people and themselves.”
The Delk twins, nephews of NBA player Tony Delk, both had productive games against the West Florida Argonauts Saturday. Richard scored 12 points, dished out six assists and finished an alley-oop not seen from a Bulldog point since the days of Derrick Zimmerman, but he also committed six turnovers in his debut as a starter.
Reginald scored 13 points off the bench.
“Freshmen make mistakes, and that is part of it,” Stansbury said after Saturday’s exhibition win over West Florida. “I can live with that all day long. Richard Delk has the ability to go off the dribble and make some plays. For the most part, he took pretty good care of it.”
Also expected to contribute early on is Jamont Gordon, a 6-foot-4 recruit from Oak Hill (Va.) Academy, which perennially turns out NBA-level talent. Gordon is considered by the coaching staff to be a step ahead of the other recruits physically and mentally but shot selection will likely be a large factor in how much playing time he sees.
“He’s a freshman that’s immediately going to step in and help us,” Stansbury said. “I’ll live with his effort for now. He does the little things. That part of his game, I’m not concerned about.”
In adjusting to all the new faces on the roster, the Bulldogs also will have to employ a new offensive strategy this season. Gone-at least for now-are the days where the offense is run through the dominant post player, as fans have become accustomed to seeing with Mario Austin and Lawrence Roberts.
Sophomore Charles Rhodes has shown flashes of talent in the preseason, but whether he will meet his predecessors’ production or consistency has yet to be shown.
“Charles Rhodes is better as a second guy and not a primary guy,” Stansbury said. “I think he does everything better as that second guy. He is better (from last season), but we’re not very good at getting him the ball where he needs to get it. Offensively, there’s not a lot of flow out there, and that makes it more difficult on him. Overall, he’s not where we want him to be, but he’s better. We need him to take another step.”
The young Bulldogs will be tested against a UT-Chattanooga team, which is coming off its most successful campaign in recent years.
In 2004-05, first-year head coach John Shulman led the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997.
The team also highlighted its season by winning the Southern Conference Tournament title in Chattanooga in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a SoCon Tournament Championship Game. UT-Chattanooga also defeated the University of Tennessee, 69-68, for its first win over the Vols since 1925.
The team went 20-11 on the season, the program’s 17th 20-win campaign, and Shulman received the State of Tennessee’s Men’s College Basketball Coach of the Year Award.
After graduating their two top scorers-NCAA Slam Dunk Champion Mindaugas Katelynas and Chris Brown-UT-Chattanooga now turns to seniors Charles Anderson and Alphonso Pugh for its offense. The 6-foot-8 Anderson scored 17 points in a Nov. 12 exhibition game against Campbellsville.
The game will tip off Saturday at 7 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum.