After Early Struggles, Mississippi State a much improved team (Basketball)

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STARKVILLE – More than 7,500 fans assembled at Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday to watch an audition. They sat and judged a competition that had little to do with the outcome of the game between Mississippi State and Georgia.

MSU entered the matchup with two straight wins. Through six games in 2015, Rick Ray's team performed well in five of them.

The arena that could barely reach an attendance of 5,000 in December filled to 7,549 on Saturday, when MSU and Georgia took the courts.

Despite the 72-66 loss, MSU (9-10, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) accomplished something it hadn't this season — a legitimate college basketball atmosphere.

"You want the end result to be a win," Ray said. "Just because you didn't get the win doesn't mean you didn't take strides as a basketball team. I think we did (Saturday)."

"I think anybody who's playing college basketball wants an environment," Ray said. "From us coming off our trip to Auburn, where I thought that was a terrific environment, I thought our fans did a great job to provide another good environment."

Fans leaving the Hump may have been disappointed with the outcome, but they can't deny their team's improvement in 2015.

Mississippi State is 3-4 against major conference opponents since Jan. 1. I.J. Ready has become a legitimate offensive threat, scoring double figures on six of the seven games. He's been even better in clutch situations, burying late 3-pointers against Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Auburn.

Ready continued his steady play Saturday with 12 points and three assists. He also shut down Georgia's J.J. Frazier the final six minutes of the game. (That was big, considering Frazier was having the hot hand earlier and finishing with a career-high 37 points).

Junior guard Craig Sword showed that the back surgery that limited him during December is no longer an issue. He finished with a reverse layup after a steal. He took the foul, finished the bucket and made the free throw.

There's also been growth in the front court. Roquez Johnson followed Gavin Ware's 16-point, 17-rebound performance against Auburn with a 25 and 12 outing versus Georgia. Ware hauled in 13 rebounds but only scored four points against Georgia.

"I think anybody can see that's watched this team from the beginning to the end, that we're playing our best basketball," Ray said. "That's what you want to see. You want to see your team improving throughout the season."

That wasn't always the case.

The program plummeted in Year 3 under Ray after a 5-0 start. It then lost nine of its next 11 games to increase a losing streak on the road to 22 games and within the conference to 16 games.

The Bulldogs bottomed out in December with three losses to mid-major teams, including two at home by 14 and 19 points.

Unlike Saturday, those losses didn't include a packed student section and mostly filled the lower bowl at Humphrey Coliseum.

Confidence within Mississippi State's fans seems to be building. Saturday's loss isn't expected to change that.

"I know that it was a loss, a big loss," Johnson said. "We were right there. We just didn't finish."

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