STARKVILLE — There was no doubt in Ben Howland’s mind that the Mississippi State men’s basketball team played its best game Tuesday when the first-year head coach watched his team beat Arkansas 78-46 at Humphrey Coliseum.

Howland hopes the way the Bulldogs dominated the Razorbacks is the start of a trend. He will get a chance to help make that a reality at 7 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) when MSU (10-13, 3-8 Southeastern Conference) plays host to Georgia (13-9, 6-5) at Humphrey Coliseum.

“I’m excited about our team, and I’m excited about the progress we made (Tuesday),” Howland said. “We’ve got to build on this. It doesn’t mean anything unless we build off of it.”

MSU played well offensively and defensively against Arkansas. The Bulldogs shot 53 percent from the field and held the Razorbacks to 22.2 percent from the field, including 10 percent from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs also had 16 assists on 27 field goals, which really pleased Howland.

“I told them this is what we expect night in and night out, in terms of the preparation intensity, how hard we played, the sharing of the ball and everything we did,” Howland said. “You can see we have a chance here to do something good for ourselves down the stretch.”

In the first meeting against Arkansas on Jan. 9 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Razorbacks made 16 3-pointers against a zone defense. In the rematch, Howland went back to a man-to-man defense that paid dividends.

“If we come out like this Saturday and we play man like we played (Tuesday night), we’ll get another win,” freshman guard/forward Quinndary Weatherspoon said.

It has been a struggle for Howland and his staff since December. Injuries, transfers, and close losses have taken their toll, but Howland and his staff have tried to stay the course. The win against Arkansas was the first game of a three-game homestand. Howland said the performance is an indicator of how good this team can be.

“Now you see what we’re capable of, so let’s not have anything less than what we did (Tuesday night),” Howland said. “The secret’s out. We can play really good, we can be a very good team. Now we’ve got to build on this.”

Georgia had won two in a row before losing Tuesday at Kentucky 82-48. J.J. Frazier (15.8 points per game) leads Georgia in scoring. Yante Maten is averaging 15.6 ppg.

MSU’s players feel good about what the future holds. They are focused on building on the momentum from the Victory against Arkansas.

“I think this is the game we needed because a lot of teams aren’t successful early on but they can make a big run at the end. I think this will spark our run,” Weatherspoon said.

Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait

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