Iverson Molinar shines in return as Mississippi State grabs win over North Texas
STARKVILLE, Miss. – For 10 days, Iverson Molinar didn't do much of anything. Mississippi State's starting point guard had a positive COVID-19 test, and though he had no symptoms from the virus, he was forced to miss the season's opening three contests.
"Not being able to play period, that really hurts because I love the sport," Molinar said. "The hardest part was watching my teammates and I feel like I let them down the first three games. I felt bad."
Friday night, there was no more guilt. No more reason to hurt. Molinar was back with his fellow Bulldogs and he helped lead the team to their second consecutive victory in a 69-63 win over North Texas.
"Overall he did a great job considering he missed 10 straight days without doing anything," MSU head coach Ben Howland said of Molinar. "I thought he really bounced back and that shows what a terrific athlete he is."
Molinar scored 15 points and had five rebounds on a night the Bulldogs led from essentially beginning to end. Just over 30 seconds into the game, State center Abdul Ado hit a layup for a 2-0 lead, Molinar scored five unanswered points of his own, MSU was off and running up 7-0 and carried an advantage the rest of the way.
Molinar had plenty of help though as the Bulldogs evened their season record at 2-2. D.J. Stewart led all scorers with 16 points, 14 of which came after halftime to help MSU put the game away as North Texas kept things close. Tolu Smith scored 12 points and just missed out on a double-double as he also had eight rebounds. Jalen Johnson added 10 points off the bench.
Much of State's offensive damage was done in the paint. The Bulldogs outscored the Mean Green 44-22 on the inside. It was a good thing for MSU too, as State struggled mightily from long range. The Bulldogs were only 1-for-10 behind the 3-point line. Still, State was stingy enough to earn the victory over the defending Conference USA champions. The Bulldogs limited North Texas to under 36 percent shooting from the field (20-for-56).
"The bottom line is you can win a game (shooting) 1-for-10 from three if you play really good defense," Howland said. "That's the bottom line. Our defense was tremendous tonight."
MSU also out-rebounded North Texas 38-34 to help fuel the victory.
The most exciting part of the evening though for Mississippi State was getting Molinar back on the floor. He finally returned to practice on Wednesday and was able to participate for half of it. He then went through three-fourths of Thursday's practice prior to being back on the court Friday.
Molinar saw just over 29 minutes of game action. That's of course just over 29 minutes more than he saw in any of the year's prior three matchups.
And make no mistake about it, everyone in maroon and white was incredibly glad to have Molinar back in the fold.
"The first three games I would say it was different," Johnson said. "This fourth game, it felt like everybody was there. I'd say it's a more together feeling now that he's back."
Now at full strength, MSU will go for its third win in a row on Tuesday at 8 p.m. as the Bulldogs host Jackson State.
Mississippi State's Iverson Molinar takes a shot during Friday night's MSU win over North Texas. (Photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics)
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