STARKVILLE — A tospy-turvy season for Mississippi State men’s basketball scored one more in the win column in the team’s regular season finale Saturday night.
A few days after suffering what looked like a bubble-deflating defeat to South Carolina, the Bulldogs took care of business against its arch rival and also received a little help from its friends in Kentucky.
MSU secured a double-bye in the Southeastern Conference tournament thanks to a 69-44 victory Ole Miss on senior night at Humphrey Coliseum and a Kentucky road win over Florida.
Saturday’s win against Ole Miss was the lowest point total allowed by the Bulldogs this season.
“It was our best defensive performance that I can remember at Mississippi State,” MSU head coach Ben Howland said.
MSU (20-11, 11-7 SEC) will be the No. 4 seed in next week’s SEC tournament, while Ole Miss (15-16, 6-12) will be the No. 12 seed and face Georgia Wednesday.
“That will definitely help us,” MSU forward Reggie Perry said of the double-bye.
The Bulldogs will likely need to win at least a game in Nashville to feel confident about receiving their second straight NCAA tournament berth come Selection Sunday, as most experts still have MSU left out of the Big Dance.
“That’s ridiculous,” Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis said of MSU’s current projection of not making the NCAA tournament. “With how many wins they have in this kind of league, put them in the Big 10 and see how many games they win. They’d be in the tournament this particular year. For some reason, the SEC isn’t getting the respect. There’s no doubt that team can go win games in the NCAA tournament.
“I think they’ll get there and I think they’ll do well in the tournament,” he added.
MSU’s 11 SEC wins are the most it’s accumulated in a season during the Howland era. This also is the third straight season the Bulldogs have won at least 20 games. Earlier this season, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl predicted MSU would beat “most teams” at Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs finished the year with a 14-2 record in Starkville, with the losses coming to Auburn and Louisiana Tech.
On Feb. 11, Breein Tyree and the Rebels humiliated the Bulldogs with a 40-point outing from the senior guard and a 25-point defeat. MSU and Perry returned the favor Saturday.
Perry, a contender for SEC Player of the Year, closed the regular season with an SEC-leading 17 double-doubles after scoring 22 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
“I just wanted to be the first big down and getting in good position,” Perry said. “The guards did a good job of feeding me.”
Tyson Carter, MSU’s lone senior seeing significant minutes, was re-inserted to the starting lineup on senior night after coming off the bench for much of the second half of the season. In his last game at Humphrey Coliseum (assuming MSU doesn’t host a first-round National Invitational Tournament matchup), Carter finished with nine points and four assists. He was given a standing ovation by the crowd after he left the court at the 2:30 mark, but the Starkville native made sure to stop at center court and kiss the M logo on his way out.
“It was my last time playing,” Carter said. “I wanted to do something special that I’ll always remember.”
Meanwhile, last time against Ole Miss, Nick Weatherspoon had a career-worst negative-36 plus-minus rating, an outing he later called on social media the worst game of his career. But ehe junior point guard chipped in 11 points, six assists and four steals on Saturday. Following the game, Weatherspoon said he didn’t prepare for the Rebels any differently this time around, but Perry quipped “it’s the hair” after Weatherspoon sported a new hairstyle Saturday.
After torching the Bulldogs in Oxford, Tyree was held to 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting.
“Doubling Tyree on our ball screens really was effective,” Howland said.
The Bulldogs raced out to a 39-25 halftime lead and preemptively ended any comeback effort with a 8-0 run to start the second half.
Robert Woodard II was another MSU player in double figures after he chipped in 11 points.
MSU is back in action in the SEC tournament Friday in Nashville, with its opponent yet to be determined.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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