The Mississippi State men’s basketball team opened its 2009-10 season at the Hump Saturday in an exhibition game against Oklahoma City. The No. 18-ranked Bulldogs won the contest 82-54 in convincing style over the Stars.
MSU started with a bang with an 11-2 run on 3-pointers by senior guard Barry Stewart, sophomore guard Dee Bost and junior guard Ravern Johnson.
In the first half, senior center Jarvis Varnado contributed primarily on the boards.
The Bulldogs had trouble containing OC’s shooting guard Chris Brown in the first half, and the Stars knocked down MSU’s 11-point lead to only 5 going into the locker room.
Brown would finish the game leading all scorers with 24 points.
Early in the second half, Oklahoma City pulled to within two, but that was as close as it could get. Over the next 10 minutes, MSU stretched its lead out to 25 as Ravern Johnson went red-hot from outside the line.
Johnson finished 6-of-10 from 3-point range, and led the Dogs with 23 points.
Throughout the course of the game, junior forward Kodi Augustus was assertive on both ends of the court, but had trouble with consistency on the long ball, prompting him to rely on his driving game.
Head coach Rick Stansbury said the game was what he expected – both good and bad – adding his team displayed a solid effort without its full roster available.
“We were short some people,” he said. “Phil Turner didn’t play. Some of those other guys have been out injured. [Freshman guard] Shaun [Smith] has a problem with his hip, and we didn’t know if he would play today.”
Smith ended up taking the court, preventing MSU from only being able to use seven players.
“At pregame meal, I’m feeding 30 people and only 7 of them [may be able] to play,” Stansbury said.
Short on players, Stansbury said he relied on veterans like Stewart to manage the game. Stansbury said coaches should not always direct traffic on the court, saying senior leaders such as Stewart should step up and be vocal.
“That’s just a little thing, influences the game a little bit. Barry Stewart does those things, and being one of only two seniors, it’s important to us.”
In the final minutes, Stansbury left Stewart in while letting his freshmen get some much needed time on the court in front of a crowd.
Stewart said he knew Stansbury had confidence in his leadership.
“He wanted me to get some point in because I’ll be playing it some this year,” he said. “And he just wanted me to get some young guys who didn’t know the offense as well and get them going.”
Among the crowd of almost 3,000 was Rick’s Rowdies, a fixture in the Hump. However, the spirit group was not in its usual location across from the team. Because of seating changes for the 2010 season, the Rowdies were sitting underneath the south goal.