STARKVILLE — University of Louisiana Monroe men’s basketball coach Keith Richard took a deep sigh.
Possession after possession, he watched his Warhawks get suffocated offensively by Mississippi State’s lengthy forwards Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Bulldogs held the Warhawks to a season-low 45 points in a 62-45 win, forcing 17 turnovers.
“I’m not sure how (MSU) will be offensively. But they’re going to have a chance to be an elite defensively with all that length,” Richard said.
MSU’s first two games were turnover-filled, hard-to-come by wins, but the Bulldogs made it easier on themselves against the Warhawks.
The Bulldogs took control from tipoff, racing out to a 15-point halftime lead and committing a season-low 14 turnovers.
“We played really good basketball tonight,” MSU coach Ben Howland said. “The first half in particular. I thought our defense was incredibly effective against a good team.”
One minute and 23 seconds into the contest, preseason first-team All-SEC selection Reggie Perry drained his first 3-pointer of the season, giving him more first-half points on one shot than he scored in the first two games combined (one).
“His mom and dad were here tonight, so I’d like for them to come to every game,” Howland said with a laugh.
It was a busy night for Perry, who recorded his second straight double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. The double-double marked the 11th of his career, the most for an active SEC player.
“It definitely felt good to get off to a good start,” Perry said. “I’ve been working hard this week in practice.”
At halftime, MSU had a 39-24 lead due in part to only committing four first-half turnovers and never let its lead get under nine points in the second half.
“Whoever had the ball, we were pressuring them,” MSU guard Robert Woodard II said. “We gave them a hard time and put on pressure. We took that away from teams we’ve played in the past, every other team is pressuring the ball, so we worked on that throughout the week. We took it upon ourselves to play harder defense and make the other team uncomfortable.”
Woodard was MSU’s second leading scorer, finishing with 13 points on a 5 of 10 shooting effort. He also chipped in seven rebounds.
Freshmen guards Iverson Molinar (10) and D.J. Stewart (10) rounded out double-figure scorers for MSU. The Bulldogs made 19 of 30 free throws.
“I’ve been learning from the first two games,” Molinar said. “You learn from your mistakes watching video.”
JD Williams led ULM with 14 points, while Chris Efretuei (10) and Michael Ertel (10) also finished in double figures. The Warhawks shot 35.3 percent from the floor.
“Give them a ton of credit the way they played defensively tonight,” Richard said. “We struggled all night offensively, but it was due to their play.”
Howland can easily point out his favorite statistic from Thursday’s box score: zero transition points allowed by his Bulldogs.
“Hallelujah,” Howland said. “That is beautiful. That’ll be the first thing I mention to our team tomorrow.”
With the win, MSU extended its nonconference home winning streak to 25 games, the longest active streak in the SEC.
The Bulldogs are back in action at 2 p.m. Sunday against New Orleans at Humphrey Coliseum.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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