NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For most of this season, Mississippi State would have been a much better team if the 3-point line did not exist.
The Bulldogs entered the postseason 14th out of 16 Southeastern Conference teams in 3-point percentage, and had an even tougher time defending the perimeter, with only Vanderbilt allowing opponents to shoot 3-pointers at a higher rate. But in Wednesday night’s SEC Tournament first-round game against LSU, the arc belonged to MSU on both sides of the floor.
Offensively, the No. 10 seed Bulldogs had 15 made 3-pointers and were 8-for-13 from deep in the second half. Defensively, MSU held the 15th-seeded Tigers under 20 percent from 3-point range and without a field goal of any kind for the final 10 minutes of the first half. It added up to a 91-62 Bulldogs victory at Bridgestone Arena.
“It’s something that we needed to do to a couple teams down the stretch and we didn’t do our job,” said RJ Melendez, who dealt with foul trouble but still had seven points and six rebounds in 18 minutes. “Today we just came ready to play and did what we were supposed to do.”
LSU must have done something to anger Josh Hubbard in a previous life, because the sophomore guard had yet another huge game against the Tigers. Hubbard finished with 26 points in as many minutes and was 6-for-12 from long range. In four career games against LSU, Hubbard is averaging 28 points, and on a night when no other MSU player even cracked double figures, the Bulldogs needed their biggest star to carry them at times.
It sure did not look as if MSU’s recent defensive woes were solved early on — the Tigers made seven of their first 10 shots as the teams traded the lead eight times in the first eight minutes. But through a combination of strong Bulldogs defense and poor shooting from LSU, the Tigers missed their last 11 shots of the first half, and MSU’s lead ballooned to 20 before the teams headed to their respective locker rooms.
Jordan sears led LSU with 20 points, but the Bulldogs held the Tigers’ leading scorer, former MSU guard Cam Carter, to 13 on 2-for-7 from distance. Carter scored 23 in a loss to the Bulldogs in Starkville earlier this month.
“We’ve had great games, great stretches where we’ve played at a high level on the defensive end, but for whatever reason we couldn’t sustain it long enough and have that be our backbone,” MSU head coach Chris Jans said. “We did a lot of defensive stuff, drills we hadn’t done for months, to try to get everybody just mentally focused and understanding that if we’re going to win games here, it has to start on that end of the floor.”
The Bulldogs (21-11, 8-10 SEC) came out sloppy to start the second half, turning the ball over five times before the first TV timeout and allowing LSU (14-18, 3-15) to close the gap to 11. Hubbard was the only MSU player to make a field goal for six and a half minutes out of the break. But Melendez, Shawn Jones and Riley Kugel all hit 3-pointers as part of a 17-0 run to put the game away.
Jans emptied the bench late with another game coming up Thursday. Martavious Russell had a season-high seven points in nine minutes, and Gai Chol, Harrison Alexander and Jeremy Foumena all registered official stats. The Bulldogs’ bench outscored that of the Tigers 38-2.
“It’s amazing getting into the game, feeling the excitement,” Russell said. “I can’t even explain how it made me smile.”
MSU will face No. 7 seed Missouri in the second round Thursday evening. While LSU is second to last in the SEC in 3-point percentage, Missouri is second behind only Kentucky and was 15-for-32 in a 27-point romp at Humphrey Coliseum in early February.
No. 21 Mizzou has lost four of five, like the Bulldogs had prior to Wednesday, but the Tigers’ outside shooting prowess makes them dangerous and an unfavorable matchup for MSU.
“Just keeping the ball pressure high, making sure we’re checking out, finishing possessions, rebounding and being intentional with everything,” senior guard Claudell Harris said. “Being intentional contesting 3s at a high level because we’ve been struggling with guarding the 3-point line. That was a big emphasis coming into this tournament.”
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