TUPELO — It may have been just a layup, but KeShawn Murphy had a feeling Sunday might be his day the first time he saw the ball go through the net.
The redshirt sophomore from Birmingham, Ala. has been through plenty of adversity in his two-plus seasons with Mississippi State. He practiced with the Bulldogs in 2021-22 but redshirted the season due to various injuries, and after playing in 19 games last year, Murphy missed MSU’s first five games this season with a foot injury.
But with the Bulldogs trailing by as many as 11 points and in need of an offensive spark against North Texas, Murphy provided just that. He poured in a career-high 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting to lead the Bulldogs to a 72-54 victory over the Mean Green at Cadence Bank Arena.
“We struggled on the offensive end, and I had the skill set to be able to help the team,” Murphy said. “Any open looks I had, I took the shot.”
MSU (9-2) missed its first seven shots, while North Texas (5-5) made its first five and built an early 12-2 lead. Murphy, who also played a career-high 23 minutes and finished with a team-best plus/minus of plus-27, was the Bulldogs’ lone source of offense as they first began to chip away, scoring 12 of his points in the first half.
The rest of the team joined the action on a 14-2 run to end the half. It started with a 3-pointer by Dashawn Davis, MSU’s first make from behind the arc after the Bulldogs had missed their first nine attempts. Freshman Josh Hubbard, their top 3-point shooter, hit from deep on their next trip down the floor to cut the MSU deficit to two.
Hubbard connected from long range again in the final minute of the half to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, and Cameron Matthews fed Murphy for a dunk just ahead of the buzzer that put MSU ahead by four. The Bulldogs never trailed again.
“The offensive part is easy for (Murphy),” head coach Chris Jans said. “He’s very skilled, he’s very talented, and when he’s motored up, he can get to the point where he can defend like we want him to. He should have had more. He missed a couple bunnies that normally he doesn’t, but he had a nice offensive game.”
MSU remained hot early in the second half while putting the clamps down defensively, holding the Mean Green to 5-for-23 shooting from the floor and 0-for-11 from 3-point range over the final 20 minutes. The Bulldogs also turned the ball over just three times and turned 16 North Texas turnovers into 22 points.
Cameron Matthews stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and five steals, spending just four minutes on the bench. D.J. Jeffries finished in double figures for the third straight game with a season-best 13 points and tied a career high with five offensive rebounds. He scored on back-to-back possessions in the paint during a 12-0 run that helped MSU pull away.
“Our program is built on toughness,” Jeffries said. “Sometimes you’re going to come out flat, so you have to keep fighting and keep believing. We just told each other to keep fighting and keep chopping down at the lead.”
The Bulldogs have won three straight games since the debacle against Southern two weeks ago and are beginning to round into form again as Southeastern Conference play nears. MSU has five days of rest before taking the court again Saturday against Rutgers in Newark, N.J., which will be another test against a scrappy, defense-focused team.
“We were really engaged defensively to start the game. They made some really tough shots,” Jans said. “We missed some shots at the rim that we needed to go in, but the huddles were good, the guys were good, they remained focused. They stayed the course defensively, and as the game unfolded, our athleticism and our speed and our size (dictated) the game.”
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