STARKVILLE — Defense continues to be a point of emphasis for Ben Howland.

The Mississippi State first-year men’s basketball coach focused on offense when he took over the program in March. While the Bulldogs started the week second in the Southeastern Conference in field goal percentage (49.9 percent), the defense, which was last in points allowed (77.3 per game) and opponents’ field goal percentage (46.9), hasn’t pleased Howland.

“When we do scouting report, all we do is defense,” MSU senior guard Craig Sword said. “We haven’t worked much on offense.”

The defense has started to get better, but the Bulldogs aren’t there yet.

On Wednesday, MSU showed signs of progress as it did the little things on defense in an 86-73 victory against Texas Southern at Humphrey Coliseum.

MSU (4-3) had a season-high 10 blocked shots (the most since it had 10 against Tennessee in 2012), recorded five steals, forced 14 turnovers that led to 21 points, and forced two shot clock violations.

In the last three games, which includes wins against Missouri State and Tennessee-Martin, MSU has forced 40 turnovers and recorded 21 steals.

“I think we’ve made a ton of improvement since the Miami game, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” Howland said, referring to a 105-79 loss to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Hurricanes on Nov. 19 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Bulldogs allowed 100 points for the first time since a 2012 loss to Massachusetts in the National Invitation Tournament.

Howland said the Bulldogs worked on zone defense in practice Tuesday after one was suggested to him, but he said his team was “so bad” there was no way he was going to go to use it against Texas Southern.

Sword led the Bulldogs with four blocked shots and had two steals. He said the last time he had four blocks in a game probably was in high school. Senior center and former Starkville High School standout Gavin Ware had three blocks, while senior forward Travis Daniels had one. Freshman guard Malik Newman had two steals, with senior center Johnny Zuppardo had one.

The Tigers (1-6) shot 45.9 percent from the field (28 of 61) and 35.3 percent (6 of 17) from 3-point range. They were 15 of 31 (48.4 percent) from the field and 4 of 9 from 3-point range in the first half.

Howland challenged the Bulldogs at halftime to play better and they rose to the occasion.

“They were driving on us in the first half and coach came in the locker room and told us we were playing poor defense,” Sword said. “It just kicked in my mind I had to be a leader and get some stops.”

Leading 45-39 with 18 minutes, 31 seconds remaining, MSU went on a 15-2 run to take a 15-point lead, its largest of the game. The Tigers cut the lead to 69-65 with 6:43 left, but the Bulldogs locked down on defense. Junior guard I.J. Ready, who didn’t start due to a violation of team rules, scored back-to-back buckets to push the lead to eight.

Even with a better defensive performance from MSU, Texas Southern had four players score in double digits. Derrick Griffin, seeing action for the first time this season after playing on the school’s football team, led the Tigers with 19 points. Chris Thomas and Malcolm Riley had 15, with Jerrion Martin had 10.

The Tigers, coached by former Indiana and Alabama-Birmingham men’s basketball coach Mike Davis, traveled from Houston, Texas, by bus and bussed back after the game. Texas Southern has played five true road games this season and two games at a tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will play its first home game Jan. 2.

“I have unbelievable respect for those kids and that staff,” Howland said. “Texas Southern’s a team I’ll root for.”

MSU was outrebounded 41-29.

Ware led the Bulldogs with 19 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, and 15th of his career. MSU is 12-3 when Ware records a double-double. Daniels scored 18 points, while Sword had 16 before fouling out. Ready scored 11 off the bench.

Elijah Staley, who recently joined the program after playing quarterback on the school’s football team, dressed out but didn’t play.

MSU will have nine days to prepare for a game against Missouri-Kansas City at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, in Kansas City.

“I’m really excited that we get a chance to practice six times,” Howland said. “We have a lot of things to get better at here in between these games.”

Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait

Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.