Virginia vs. Mississippi State in NIT: It’s gonna be a football game

By Jerry Ratcliffe

It has been a while since Ben Howland faced the Bennetts of Washington State, but he has vivid memories of what those games were like in the old Pac-10. Now, perhaps in his last season with Mississippi State, Howland knows exactly what to expect when the Bulldogs play at Virginia on Wednesday night in a first-round NIT game at John Paul Jones Arena (7 p.m., ESPN2).

Howland took over the UCLA program the same year Dick Bennett became head coach at Washington State. Dick Bennett was followed by son, Tony, as the Cougars’ head coach. Howland earned the distinction of becoming the first coach in UCLA basketball history to lose home games at Pauley Pavillion to Washington State, something he hasn’t forgotten.

“I would say when you play Dick Bennett and then Tony Bennett, it’s like getting a root canal,” Howland said in a Zoom presser on Tuesday. “It’s not fun.”

Howland isn’t the only person in the Mississippi State program who knows what it’s like to face a Bennett team. Two former ACC players are now on the Bulldogs’ roster, one of them being graduate transfer Garrison Brooks, who was the ACC preseason Player of the Year his senior season at North Carolina.

Howland joked that when Brooks saw Virginia pop up as the Bulldogs’ first-round opponent in the NIT, Brooks put on the team thread, “It’s gonna be a football game.”

“I mean, it’s gonna be very physical,” Howland said of the matchup with the Cavaliers. “[Brooks] played against them for four years and has great respect for Virginia. He knows how physically tough they are, how they fight for everything.

“Shaq (Moore, former NC State player) actually had a good game against Virginia last year in his freshman year, so they both know Virginia was the standard-bearer the last seven, eight years in the ACC.”

Bennett mentioned in his chat with media on Monday that Howland’s teams are traditionally physically tough as well, so this could be another battle that Bennett classifies as a “knuckle-buster.”

Because the Mississippi State arena is undergoing a renovation, the third-seeded Bulldogs couldn’t host, meaning that UVA, essentially a No. 6 seed, was designated the game site.

“I think we have the toughest draw in the NIT, because we’re supposed to be hosting as a No. 3 seed,” Howland said. “Now, we have to go on the road to play the hardest team you could possibly play to be on the road against.”

Mississippi State (18-15) was only 1-9 in road games this past season.

While Howland has already studied the Cavaliers, he doesn’t see a lot of difference between UVA and what he faced at UCLA against the Washington State teams coached by the Bennetts.

“They’re so packed in (on defense) and they’re so reactive toward any drives, they’re in constant help that you are really required to make some jump shots to beat a Bennett team,” Howland said. “They’re going to get a hand up to contest the level of release. They double the post in order to try to keep you out of the post as much as possible.

“They often have three guys back on defense, and so they give you nothing in transition. They’re making it a half-court game.”

That’s just on the defensive side of the ball. Offense also demands focus from the opponents.

“Virginia’s tempo is No. 357 out of 357,” Howland said. “It’s always right there every year. So it’s a very patient control game where they’re going to have the ball a lot in their hands. They don’t turn it over, they’re always one of the top teams in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio, so they’ve got a lot of things go their way, and you’ve got to shoot the ball against them.”

Wednesday night’s game could be Howland’s last as Bulldogs’ coach. Should Virginia prevail, Howland is clearly on the chopping block. In fact, some publications reported Howland had already been fired, requiring the school’s AD to clarify that Howland would coach the team in the NIT.

“We’re just focused on the game,” Howland said. “I’m not sitting there talking to our players about that at all. We’re focused on being the very best team we can be and compete against a great program against a great team that just won the national championship in the last few years (2019) and has been the dominant team in the ACC over the last eight-to-10 years. So it’s a real thrill from my standpoint to be playing in this game.”

Howland said he really wanted to be back for an eighth season at the helm of MSU next season because he has several players returning and has his best recruiting class in the last three years coming in. 

“If that doesn’t happen, I would be disappointed to not have a chance to coach this team, but we’ll just worry about that later,” Howland said.

(See related story on Tony Bennett’s NIT philosophy: “In it to Win it;” check out our game-preview podcast; also statistical breakdown, starting lineups and NIT brackets appear below with updated results).