VIDEO: Bulldogs Return From Eurotrip, Carter Shines

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) — The Mississippi State men’s basketball squad is back in the United States after a successful tour in Europe.

The Bulldogs went 4-0 against solid international talent.

While the young Bulldogs team excelled on the hardwood, the trip was also an important chemistry builder.

“One of the players said, ‘you know coach, this really brought us together, spending all that time together”, said head coach Ben Howland.

“That’s exactly what you want out of trip like that, the bonding experience, being together…it’s made our team closer together already before you even started this year, which is really really important.”

Sophomore leader Quinndary Weatherspoon, who put up 29 and 34 points in the first two games in Europe, said, “…this team I feel like this year is so much [more] comfortable with each other off the court. Last year’s team…didn’t do too much as a team but this team, once we got here this summer, we were together all summer long…I feel like that’s going to be a big part of us this year.”

One of the bright spots for the Bulldogs is the hometown kid, former Starkville Yellow Jacket star Tyson Carter.

Anyone from the area could tell you Carter can put up points in bunches, but Howland said Carter was a key piece to the team’s success by attacking the glass.

“…He was our leading defensive rebounder…”, said Howland, “…he had 20 defensive rebounds in the four games, so he had more rebounds than anybody on the team, at [158 pounds]. So that’s impressive, he has a nose for the ball, he is pound for pound one of the strongest guys on the team. He’s all muscle, there is no fat on that body…”

Carter said his elusiveness gives him an edge on the boards, and that he has “…a knack for the ball…I don’t get boxed out very much like the big guys underneath the goal so it’s kind of easy to sneak up behind them and get the rebound.”

Howland praised Carter’s feel for the game and his ability to knock down shots in the clutch, noting that the former Yellow Jacket shot forty-six percent from the three-point line.

Howland said that was “by far” a team best.