OXFORD

It was never a matter of Kodi Augustus wanting to play. It might have been part of his problem, though.

The Mississippi State sophomore was a starter for the first nine games of the season, and he played well. Then suddenly, he was on the bench. All coach Rick Stansbury would offer as a reason was, "Coach's decision."

On Jan. 8, Augustus' former AAU coach, John Eurey, told me that the benching of the 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward was "unfair" and hinted there was a riff between player and coach.

Augustus refused to check in late in a game against Houston, but that was after he'd been sent to the pine. Playing those kind of minutes, to Augustus, seemed a waste of time.

He's getting big minutes now, though. He had 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench in Saturday's 82-80 win over Ole Miss. Against Florida on Wednesday, he had nine points and three rebounds.

In both games, he was getting important minutes in the second half, something he'd not gotten at all in SEC play.

Just as mysterious as Augustus' bench exile has been his return to such a prominent role.

"It started two or three weeks ago," Stansbury said. What is "it," exactly? Stansbury said Augustus is working harder, but he couldn't explain what sparked a change in Augustus.

"Sometimes in your career you've got to make a decision to go one way or the other," Stansbury said. "It looks like he's made the right decision, to go the right way."

Augustus' talent has never been a question. He was one of the best coming out of Texas in 2006. He excelled in prep school, too.

He sat quietly like a good freshman last year, playing in only 11 games. This season, though, Stansbury put him in the lineup, and Augustus planned to stay there.

'Who likes to sit?'

He said he still doesn't know why he was benched. He said he thought his work ethic was as good as it always was, but young players never look at themselves the way coaches look at them.

"I never had an attitude," Augustus said defensively when I asked him if there had been a change in his attitude. "As a player, who likes to sit on the bench?"

That seems to be the crux of the issue: Augustus believed he should have been playing, but Stansbury thought otherwise.

"You get that from a (young) guy," junior Barry Stewart said with a smile. "You're having to work your butt off every day, and you're playing behind guys. But I think he's taken it pretty well, and he's coming out here and producing for us."

He sure has, and not a moment too soon. With backup center Elgin Bailey going down with a season-ending ankle injury on Wednesday, MSU is aching for an extra post presence to take some pressure off Jarvis Varnado.

Augustus has shown he can be that guy. He made a couple of head-turning plays against the Rebels - a fast-break dunk and a driving layup, both in the second half - and will be critical to State's success in this week's SEC Tournament.

"Kodi's so versatile, he gives you other things," Stewart said. "As long as he's going hard, he's a perfect matchup for us out there."

Brad Locke (brad.locke@djournal.com) covers Mississippi State for the Journal and blogs daily at djbulldogs.wordpress.com.