STARKVILLE — Reggie Perry took a deep breath. The first of many long pauses he’d take Wednesday night, as he was a regular at the charity stripe.
And all but one time, Perry’s free throw attempts rang true, as the 6-foot-10 forward converted 14 of 15 free throws Wednesday at Humphrey Coliseum as Mississippi State (12-6, 3-3 SEC) downed Arkansas (14-4, 3-3 SEC) 77-70.
“That was a really great win against a really great team,” MSU coach Ben Howland said. “I think it’s our best win of the year, obviously.”
Considering MSU (12-6, 3-3 SEC) shot 38.6 percent from the floor, the Bulldogs needed every bit of their 27 made free throws on 31 attempts.
Arkansas, meanwhile, didn’t make a free throw until less than three minutes remaining in the contest and converted 6 of 11 charity stripe attempts. Getting outrebounded 41-31 didn’t help their cause, either as the Razorbacks suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in the Eric Musselman era.
“The whole game was free throws,” Musselman said. “We obviously have to convert front ends of one-and-ones.”
Excess of free throws or not, MSU wouldn’t have vaulted itself back into NCAA tournament conversation without the superhuman effort of Perry all throughout the Bulldogs’ three-game winning streak. Wednesday, Perry finished with 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for his SEC-leading 11th double-double of the year. He became the first MSU player with three straight games of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds for the first time in more than two decades. He had 23 points against Missouri and 22 against Georgia.
“He’s really playing phenomenal basketball at both ends,” Howland said. “His teammates are doing a great job of getting him the ball. We have to keep getting the ball down there to him, there’s no question.”
It didn’t hurt that Perry, a former Arkansas commit, was playing against some familiar faces.
“I just try to kill everyone I play,” Perry said when asked if playing the Razorbacks gave him any extra motivation. “You all probably saw me talking out there a bit, I probably did a little more than usual just because I knew those guys out there a little bit.”
With the victory, MSU got itself back to .500 in league play after starting 0-3 in the SEC for the first time since 2015. The Bulldogs opened their three-game homestand with blowout victories over Missouri and Georgia, but needed to grind out a win defensively against the Razorbacks.
“This was a very important win for us,” Howland said. “All three of them have been.”
In an uncharacteristic performance in the post, MSU was outscored 46-24 in points in the paint.
“To win allowing 46 points in the paint is pretty tough,” Howland said. “So limiting them to 4-of-20 beyond the arc was pretty big for us.”
Despite Arkansas forcing more than 17 turnovers per night, MSU kept its giveaways in single digits with nine. Entering the matchup, the Razorbacks led the nation in 3-point defense, only allowing teams to shoot 24 percent from deep entering the contest. But while the overall shooting percentage wasn’t spectacular, the Bulldogs shot 6-of-19 from long range for 31.6 percent.
MSU took a four-point lead into halftime, then didn’t allow Arkansas to re-take the lead in the last 10 minutes of the contest.
D.J. Stewart, making his third straight start for the Bulldogs, finished in double figures with a career-high 14 points. Meanwhile, junior point guard Nick Weatherspoon contributed 11 points and six assists, while Tyson Carter scored 10 off the bench and Iverson Molinar chipped in eight points in 12 minutes.
Mason Jones and Jimmy Whitt each led Arkansas with 20 points each.
MSU is back in action against Oklahoma in the Big 12/SEC challenge at 1 p.m. Saturday in a road matchup.
“We don’t win these three games unless (we come together),” Howland said. “All really good teams play for each other and play unselfishly. Our chemistry is really starting to take hold.”
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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