STARKVILLE — Dashawn Davis collected the steal and immediately turned upcourt, finding Mississippi State teammate Eric Reed, Jr. on the right wing.
Reed tossed the basketball into the paint, where big man Tolu Smith stood waiting under the basket. Amid a crowd of defenders, Smith laid the ball up and in.
For the first time Monday, the Bulldogs were operating as intended.
It took more than a half of basketball, but Mississippi State (1-0) eventually got things going in a 63-44 win over Texas A&M–Corpus Christi (0-1) on Monday at Humphrey Coliseum.
“We won by 19, and we didn’t even play good, so I feel like our ceiling’s high,” Smith said.
Like the arena they are playing in this season, the Bulldogs are a work in progress, but that was to be expected in their first game under new coach Chris Jans.
Also to be expected were the growing pains MSU experienced in the first half, when it faced a deficit as big as 12 points midway through the period.
The Islanders jumped out to a 20-8 lead before the Bulldogs gradually chipped away, going into halftime trailing by just five points and evening the score on Smith’s layup less than two minutes into the second half.
And it didn’t take Mississippi State long to pull away from there.
MSU led from the 16:07 mark on, stretching its lead to double digits with 9:09 to play and continuing to add to the advantage.
The Bulldogs got 15 players on the court, including redshirt freshman Ke’Shawn Murphy; freshmen Kimani Hamilton and Martavious Russell; and walk-ons Isaac Stansbury and Justin Rumph.
The redshirt senior forward led MSU with 19 points, and guard Shakeel Moore added 11
MSU’s shooting struggles continued with a 42.4 percent mark from the field, a 24 percent clip (6 for 25) from 3-point range and a 7-for-13 (53.8 percent) performance at the free throw line. The Bulldogs committed 16 turnovers, 10 of which came in the first half.
Jans said his team was “overexcited” in the first half, chalking that up to having a new coach and playing the opening game of a new season.
“I’d say it was just first-game jitters,” Smith admitted. “Just a little nervous.”
But the Bulldogs played with greater pace than they typically did under former coach Ben Howland, scoring 12 fast-break points and forcing the Islanders into 21 turnovers on the night with a rarely seen press defense.
Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, an NCAA tournament team returning five starters from last season, played at the beginning like the Southland Conference winner it was projected to be.
The Islanders scored eight points on the fastbreak and hit two 3-pointers, taking a double-digit lead at the 10:18 mark of the first half.
“It was a little dead, but I don’t know what to blame it on — if it was the jitters or whatever in the first half,” Smith said. “In the second half, we picked it up.”
It didn’t take long.
A straightaway 3-pointer from D.J. Jeffries just 13 seconds into the second half cut the lead to two points and provided a spark.
“I took a sigh of relief,” Jans said. “I felt like the whole arena did.”
Smith split a pair of free throws to put MSU ahead, and he and Moore delivered buckets to push the lead to five.
A 3-pointer by Reed made it a double-digit game, and the Bulldogs cruised from there.
Texas A&M–Corpus Christi scored only seven points in the final nine minutes and only 14 in the entire second half while the Bulldogs kept things up.
Dashawn Davis made his second 3, Cameron Matthews had four straight points, and Murphy even buried his lone shot attempt, a 3 with 2:01 to go.
It was what Jans had been hoping to see all night.
“I felt like they played without thinking a little more as the game progressed,” he said.
Up next, Mississippi State will face Akron (1-0) at 6 p.m. Friday in the Barstool Sports Invitational in Philadelphia.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion