Josh Hubbard cannot be contained for long.
Three nights after Mississippi State’s star freshman guard was held to five points while his teammates picked up the slack in a win over Ole Miss, Hubbard put the Bulldogs on his back and set a career high with 32 points to lead MSU to its fifth consecutive victory, an 87-67 romp against LSU in Baton Rouge.
“Our expectations were way higher than the way we started SEC play,” Hubbard said on SEC Network after the game. “We had to get a road win, we had to show the whole world that we can win on the road, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Hubbard finished 6-for-12 from 3-point range, and his teammates weren’t slouches from behind the arc either — the Bulldogs (19-8, 8-6 Southeastern Conference) were 10-for-21 from deep as a team, their best hit rate of the season and a far cry from last year’s group that finished dead last in the entire country in 3-point percentage.
The lead changed hands seven times in the first half, but a 9-0 MSU run in less than two minutes late in the half gave the visitors the lead for good. Hubbard did most of his damage in the second half, draining five of his 3-pointers as the Bulldogs’ lead ballooned to as many as 27 points.
“(My teammates) build my confidence every day in practice,” Hubbard said. “We push each other, we play hard. They’ve instilled that in me from the start and I instill that in them.”
Tolu Smith, coming off the bench for the second consecutive game, added 19 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes of action. KeShawn Murphy continued his recent stretch of strong play in 25 minutes off the bench with 11 points and nine boards.
MSU took the lead into the break despite its best defensive player, Cameron Matthews, going to the bench after picking up two personal fouls within the first four minutes of the game. Matthews did not return until the start of the second half, and he helped the Bulldogs’ defense shut down the Tigers’ guards, with the exception of Trae Hannibal, who scored a season-high 22 points.
LSU (14-13, 6-8) finished 3-for-17 on 3-pointers as MSU kept up its outstanding perimeter defense. The Bulldogs entered Saturday night allowing their opponents to shoot just 28.5 percent from long range, putting them atop the SEC and ninth in the nation in that category.
MSU returns to Humphrey Coliseum on Tuesday night to host No. 17 Kentucky, which put up 117 points in a home win Saturday over No. 13 Alabama. The Wildcats defeated the Bulldogs 90-77 in Lexington back on Jan. 17.
“It’s just hard work,” Hubbard said. “(Head coach Chris Jans) has a certain way he loves to do things, and we believe and we trust in him. He’s a winner. He knows what it takes to win each and every night. Defensively, we just have to bring effort. As long as we bring effort, we’ll be fine.”
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