MISSISSIPPI STATE

Weatherspoon returns, leads MSU to win

Michael Bonner
The Clarion-Ledger
Mississippi State guard Quinndary Weatherspoon postponed season-ending wrist surgery and returned Thursday night against Oregon State.

STARKVILLE - A week ago, Mississippi State announced Quinndary Weatherspoon would miss the entire season with a wrist injury.

But Weatherspoon walked off the bench and onto the court Thursday as a starter in a 74-57 win against Oregon State. He wrapped a black brace around his injured left wrist, which contains a torn ligament. His first two possessions showed lingering rust, though, with back-to-back turnovers.

His third touch featured the Weatherspoon that the league’s coaches voted preseason All-SEC.

Weatherspoon crossed up his defender, up-faked and stepped back to bury a 3-pointer. It began a string where he made six shots to start the game, including four 3s and a dunk.

"I felt good," Weatherspoon said. "I didn't know I was going to hit all those 3s."

His third 3-pointer with 8:33 remaining in the first half put MSU up 26-11 and drew the first “Q” chant from the crowd at Humphrey Coliseum. His first miss didn’t come until the second half.

The Canton native returned to his pre-injury form in his entirety, scoring 16 points in the first half. He finished with 21. He averaged 18.8 points before the wrist injury that caused him to miss two games.

Weatherspoon's injury occurred against Boise State on Nov. 18, but he played against UTEP two days later. On Nov. 21, MSU announced the injury would sideline its leading scorer for the remainder of the season.

Weatherspoon canceled the surgery that was supposed to take place on Thursday.  After researching the torn ligament, coach Ben Howland discovered others had played through the same injury. Weatherspoon will now have surgery in the offseason.

"My wrist was getting better and better by the day," Weatherspoon said. "As it was getting better I started shooting and trying to dribble about a week ago. I told coach Howland I wanted to try to hold off on the surgery."

His production transformed Mississippi State (5-2) from a team that went more than a dozen minutes without making a shot against Lehigh to an offensive juggernaut that scored 45 points in the first half while limiting Oregon State (3-5) to 19.

MSU hadn’t scored that many points in the opening stanza since Dec. 23 last year when it posted 49. The defense hadn’t held an opponent to fewer than 18 points since surrendering 17 last year to North Carolina Central.

"I loved our first half and how we played," Howland said. "We just played really, really hard,"

Weatherspoon’s presence alleviated the pressure off MSU’s six freshmen. Without the sophomore, the freshmen combined to shoot 29 of 81 from the field.

They went 12 of 23 against Oregon State.

None benefited more than Mario Kegler. He struggled shooting 8 of 24 in Weatherspoon’s absence. He shot 4-for-5 from the field to tie a career high with 12 points. Lamar Peters returned to the lineup after oversleeping against Northwestern State. He scored 10 points.

"With him on the court we all just come together and play," Kelger said.

Mississippi State as a team experienced an increase in his shooting percentage as well.

The Bulldogs made just 2 of 15 3-point attempts in their last game against Northwestern State. They shot 11 of 19 with Weatherspoon back. The guard contributed to four of the made shots behind the line.

It led to a 20-point lead with 85 seconds remaining.

Mississippi State struggled to beat Northwestern State to start the week. That was without Weatherspoon. He returned, and the Bulldogs blew out a club that made the NCAA Tournament last year.

"This was a very good step for us tonight," Howland said. "That team is going to win games."

Contact Michael Bonner at mbonner@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @MikeBBonner on Twitter. Like Michael Bonner Clarion-Ledger on Facebook.