Everything Mississippi State Said After Getting Blitzed by Alabama in the SEC Tournament

Bulldogs coach Ben Howland and Mississippi State players Abdul Ado and Iverson Molinar talked extensively about what made Alabama so tough to face in the SEC Tournament

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Here's what Mississippi State coach Ben Howland and two of his players said during the postgame teleconference after Alabama's 85-48 victory over Mississippi State in SEC Tournament quarterfinals. 

Ben Howland 

Q. The end of the season, how do you summarize what has gone on this year, how up and down and tumultuous it's been for everyone?

BEN HOWLAND: First, I just want to talk about the game a little bit. Today was really a bitter pill considering that we played Alabama very competitively both in Tuscaloosa where it was a three-point game with less than a minute to go, they hit a three to go up six, and at our place with a minute and a half to go we had two three-point shots. We had a chance to tie it in a minute and a half. So to get beat this badly was really, really a bitter pill.

Give them credit. Alabama's got a great team. They're the best team in our league. They're a team that has a chance to go to the Final Four. Outstanding leadership in terms of Herb Jones and Petty, their two seniors. Really phenomenal players. Quinerly has been great against us every time, he was again today.

We were 1-19 from the three-point line. You're not going to win many games doing that. I thought our turnovers in the first half, they really got into us defensively, turned us over, turned them into a lot of easy baskets. That's been a problem for us the entire season, something we have to get better at.

When you talk about the season as a whole, it's been up and down. We started out the season without Iverson Molinar the first three games for protocol reasons, played two really good NCAA tournament teams in Clemson and Liberty. Started out 0-2, came back and got a win. Got off to a great start in the conference, 4-2. Could have been easily 5-1 or 6-0. It was frustrating to go into the slide. I think we lost four straight conference games before finally getting a win down at South Carolina.

Overall I think the guys that are young and that will be returning on this team will have garnered a lot of experience, a lot of learning that's going to help them here in the year to come, which is what we're praying for now.

There's an outside chance that we could be invited to post-season play in the NIT. We have to wait till Sunday to find that out.

Q. Alabama's defense, it seems like in the last year they've made their biggest jump. What is it about their defense that allows them to be so disruptive?

BEN HOWLAND: I thought they really added to their depth this year. I think some of their younger new guys, you look at a guy like Primo and how good he is. Quinerly was fantastic this year defensively for them. I thought that the depth they had, when you look at the guys Ellis, Gary, they have a lot of bodies that keep coming at you.

Herb is where it starts. He was the MVP. And Petty I thought did a much better job defensively this year than he had done in previous years. That's something I heard their coach talk about, is really getting him to buy into being a good defender. They did. They went from the defensive efficiency being in 110 range last year to being in the top three this year. That's a credit to their coaching staff and a credit to their players.

Q. Iverson and Tolu tried to shoulder the load for you offensively today. Iverson is going to leave here with two really good games. What is it that he can build off of as a guy who seems like he can step up when you need him to offensively?

BEN HOWLAND: I think we've got to continue to get Iverson to be a catch-and-shoot guy first rather than catch-and-bounce it first, which he has always done. He had an open three in the first half that we wanted him to take.

He's really made huge strides when you think where he was a year ago to where he is now. He's got a great work ethic. He's a wonderful young man. He's going to get better at his ball handling and creating for others. That's going to be a big part. He's so good offensively, he garners so much attention, creating for others will be a big thing for him.

Keep getting better defensively. He's got to keep growing in that area. He improved in every way from a year ago to where he is now. I'm proud of the progress he's made in this past year.

Q. Tolu got to the foul line a lot in the two games. The free throw stroke is getting better for him. From the start of conference play to where you are now, how much better is he overall, better equipped to compete in this league going forward?

BEN HOWLAND: He had a solid year. Think about it, he led the conference in rebounding. That's a huge accomplishment right there in itself. He was the leading offensive rebounder. He's going to keep working. He has an unbelievable work ethic. I know he's going to put in the time this coming off-season.

We hope it gets back to normalcy where we're able to work with our guys a little more like we normally in June when they come back for summer school. I have no doubt he'll be better in every way. I think he'll improve his shooting, his post play in terms of scoring, having more of post moves around the basket, growing in that area. I think he's going to get better defensively.

He grew a lot. Think about it, he's really played five all his life, center position, power forward all year. That's going to help him because he's going to grow as a player in terms of his ball handling and passing, which is something he needs to do.

Q. How beneficial is this post-season experience for your whole young team considering you get a win yesterday, they learn how to make close plays down the stretch, then they also see a team today, what it's like to face the top of the league?

BEN HOWLAND: Yeah, we faced them twice before, as you know, played them incredibly tough, had a chance to win both those games. That's why it's so frustrating to lose so poorly and so badly the way we did today.

But give them credit. They shot 32% against us the last time we played in Starkville two weeks ago. Today it was a much different game. They really did a good job finding the open guy.

What was a struggle for us, though, is that we struggled to score. We struggled to score offensively the last two times we played them. We've got to be better. I think in Tuscaloosa we scored in the mid 70s, had a pretty good, fluid game at that end of the floor.

Q. You mentioned kind of building towards next year already, wait and see what happens Sunday with NIT. With this young team, most of them coming back, what do you think the identity of this team could be next year with you losing Ado and Jalen Johnson only?

BEN HOWLAND: I think we're going to add some good pieces to this team. I think we're going to be a team that will play four out, one in, with Tolu being the main guy inside. We'll definitely grow.

You look at Tolu and D.J. and Iverson, that's one of the top scoring trios in our conference. We've got to keep growing around them. I think Derek Fountain has made good contributions to our team here late in the season when he finally got his opportunity.

Deivon is going to keep getting better, improving. I think he sees all the things he's got to do to grow his game where he can be a really effective player in this conference. Cameron I think is going to be a good player. We're counting on Quinten, for example, to get bigger and stronger in this off-season, take advantage of his opportunity to play more. J.D. will be back.

We've got a lot of guys back obviously.

Q. Obviously this year was a little bit of you could call it a transition year for you guys after losing your four top scorers of a year ago. A lot of young guys, a lot of them probably will be back next year. Maybe too early to ask the question, but looking ahead to next year, how do you view it? Do you view it as another year these guys have to develop? Is there a sense of urgency for you or the team?

BEN HOWLAND: I think there's always a sense of urgency. But now the guys that played this year have a lot more experience. We started three sophomores and a freshman at the end of the season with Derek in the starting lineup. We expect those guys to be the leaders of this team moving forward.

We'll add some other pieces. That will be a key factor for us moving forward. But there's definitely a sense of urgency to have a really good season next year and get ourselves in the post-season, get back to the NCAA tournament. That's obviously the goal for us a year from now.

Abdul Ado

Q. Abdul, I know it's not the way you wanted to leave Nashville. Give me a snapshot of what it is about Alabama that makes them so good at both ends of the floor.

ABDUL ADO: You got to give 'em credit. That's a really good team. Alabama is good. They can shoot in transition, they can kill you outside of the three-point line. That's the best team in the SEC when it comes to shooting threes, if not one of the best team in the SEC.

They're on the ball, take care of the ball. They do a great job of taking care of the ball. They force you to make errors. They force you to play fast. I think that was one of the main issues we had today. They kind of took us out of our own game, made us play fast.

You can see, we had 14 turnovers in the first half. They can shoot the three. I think they were like, what, 13 out of 36. They're going to shoot the ball, so...

Q. Against Kentucky yesterday post offense was a big reason you were able to get the double-digit lead at halftime. Seemed like today Alabama made it tougher to get the ball inside. How are they doing that? Ball pressure out front, disrupting guards?

ABDUL ADO: I think they forced our offense all the way out to where we couldn't even get a better look to the post players. Then whenever in the post, we catch it, it was almost like they were living with us taking the three because they double-team every time we caught it in the post. We had to kick it out to avoid turning the ball over.

Sometimes we just didn't do a better job of kicking the ball back, which resulted in a turnover. Majority of our turnovers turned into fast break points for them, which killed us a lot.

Q. None of us know what the future holds, but tell me what this year has been like for you.

ABDUL ADO: It's been like a love-and-hate kind of season with the whole COVID thing. Having a bunch of new guys, which is one thing people don't realize. We have a lot of new faces on the team, a lot of freshmens also. It's always hard to kind of just get everybody together.

We didn't even have the June and July workouts that we normally have. So that was hard. It was almost like we had to kind of just build up chemistry, which was also hard because had to social distance.

For me it's been fun. I've been grateful playing with the guys. I don't know what the future holds. Right now we hoping, we praying that we have the opportunity to play in the NIT. We're just going to wait to hear about that on Sunday, so...

Q. Obviously a very successful Mississippi State career for you. You're in the record books. If there is no NIT berth for you, obviously there's a chance you could come back for a year if you wanted to. Have you given any thought if you want to or move on?

ABDUL ADO: It's almost like I have no clue what I'm doing. As a kid, you always figure, always think everything is just going to be laid out and just be straightforward until it kind of hit me that it was March. I'm just like, Okay, I got to figure out what's next, what's next.

I think I will have to make that decision, hopefully we make it to the NIT, and after the NIT we'll see what happens after that.

Q. If this is it for your Mississippi State career, even if it isn't, what has wearing that maroon and white meant to you the last five years being in Starkville? How will you look back at this period of your life as you grow up and become an old man?

ABDUL ADO: It means a lot to the point where I can't really put it in words. It's been a blessing. I built relationships with a lot of people which will forever be with me. The community has raised me into a grown man. Everybody has supported me, has shown me love. My teammates, the coaching staff, the teammates that I came with and after.

It means a lot. It truly means a lot. All I can say is I'm grateful for the opportunity, yeah.

Iverson Molinar

Q. What was Alabama doing that made it so hard for you guys to take care of the ball today with the turnovers?

IVERSON MOLINAR: They did a pretty good job pressing the ball. Especially coming off the screens, they hard (indiscernible) a little harder than last two games. They knew what we wanted to do on offense more. They kept forcing us to do stuff we were uncomfortable with.

Q. What does today's post-season experience today do now, the win yesterday, disappointment of the loss, to help the team hopefully make a tournament run next year?

IVERSON MOLINAR: It was a pretty good experience based on yesterday. It's a little disappointing for today. This is my first time experiencing the SEC tournament. I feel great out there. It's a whole different energy from actually the regular season. I like it. For next year, we going to come back stronger.

Q. I asked Coach Howland about next year, looking forward. You guys are going to return pretty much the whole roster except for Ado and Jalen Johnson. How much are these experiences going to carry over to next year?

IVERSON MOLINAR: It's going to help us a lot. We going to be a little more prepared. I feel like we did good in our non-conference schedule. But now this year or next year is going to prepare us more for actually the SEC when we started to struggle a little bit. Feel like we're going to get into it a little bit more, a little harder than this year.

Q. What did you see offensively from Alabama in terms of their pace in those first 10 minutes that was different from the first two games?

IVERSON MOLINAR: The pace was faster. They were a little bit more spaced out. I just feel like we did a better job in the second game, the first game against Alabama, than today. I feel like they beat us off the bounce a little bit more than the past two games. That opens up the floor for them a little more because they got shooters. That's what I feel like they did. They stayed spaced out and did a pretty good job beating us off the bounce.

Q. Do you yourself plan to come back next year?

IVERSON MOLINAR: Yeah. I mean, I'm just prepared for next year. We'll see what happens.

Transcript by ASAPsports.com