The Mississippi State men’s basketball team departed for Maui, Hawaii, on Thursday morning for the Maui Invitational Tournament but not before the team picked up its first win of the season Tuesday against Florida Atlantic.
State won easily in a 20-point blowout 78-58 to avoid its first 0-2 start since the 1967-68 season. Sophomore Roquez Johnson led the team in scoring with 17 points. Johnson missed the first game against Troy and said it was hard to miss that game.
 ”I really wanted to play in the Troy game because it was so close to home, and I had some of my people coming to the game, so I was disappointed I wasn’t able to play in that game,” Johnson said. “I felt like I had to make up for not playing in that game in this game.”
Junior team leader Jalen Steele was injured going to the hole for a layup when his shot was blocked and he went crashing to the floor. Before Steele went down, the Bulldogs were playing a little stagnant. After Steele left the game, his teammates picked their game up a notch and went on a run.
Freshman Fred Thomas said Steele’s injury impacted the team.
“When he (Steele) went down, we just all said we gon’ do it for J,” Thomas said. “We just picked up our intensity and energy and did it for him.”
Sophomore point guard Trivante Bloodman echoed those sentiments of Steele’s injury being a turning point in the game for the team.
“We were kind of down when it first happened, but we used that to pick ourselves up, and we went harder and got the win,” Bloodman said.
Steele left the game and was taken to the hospital after he was assisted off the floor. He needed eight stitches in his head but did not sustain a concussion. He is expected to miss up to six weeks with a fractured right wrist but to be back in time for the start of SEC play.
There were a lot of positives that can be taken from this game, but State locked down on defense the entire game. The Bulldogs forced 27 turnovers, 17 of which were steals which was the most since the team recorded 13 against Georgia in 2009. Forcing that many turnovers proved how active and aggressive the defense was all night. MSU also held Florida Atlantic to 33.3 percent shooting and did a good job of contesting shots and not allowing open looks all night.
Head coach Rick Ray said he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“This is the way we want to play. We want to be a team that forces a lot of turnovers and that’s hard to play against,” Ray said. “Once we get those turnovers or defensive stops, then we are able to go out and push the basketball and get some things in transition. The key to us being better offensively is getting those stops defensively because then you don’t have to worry about what type of offense we’re in. We can just go push the ball and make plays.”
Even though State won by a decisive margin, there are still areas the Dogs need to improve, mainly rebounding. Despite a 20-point win, the Dogs were outrebounded 42-40 and allowed Florida International to grab 17 offensive rebounds.
The Dogs play No. 11 North Carolina in the Maui Invitational Monday with two more games after that.
Freshman Gavin Ware said he is not fazed by the “mystique” of the Tarheels.
“They (UNC) are just a name,” Ware said. “They gotta suit up just like we do, and they gotta come out and play just like we do.”
Junior forward Colin Borchert has been suspended for violation of team rules and will not make the trip to Maui.