SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2021

Abdul Ado

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

Alabama 85, Mississippi State 48

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Mississippi State center Abdul Ado.

We'll start with questions.

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.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.