STARKVILLE — Mississippi State’s 3-point shooting woes, the Bulldogs’ Achilles heel last season, were resurfacing Tuesday night against North Alabama.
MSU knocked down a trio of 3-pointers in the first six minutes thanks to freshman Josh Hubbard and junior college transfer Trey Fort, but the Bulldogs missed 11 straight attempts from deep as the Lions hung around, cutting MSU’s lead to three points early in the second half.
So the Bulldogs changed their offense in the second half, going more than six minutes at one point without attempting a shot from behind the arc. It led to a more efficient offense overall — MSU shot 56.3% in the second half and pulled away for an 81-54 victory.
“You can’t really control the misses,” said guard Andrew Taylor, a graduate transfer from Marshall. “You can control your work ethic and your energy toward the basketball, and looking at the rim and squaring your shoulders up and letting it fly. If you do miss, you’ve got the whole rest of the team to help you get through the game.”
Even with post players Tolu Smith and KeShawn Murphy out with injuries, the Bulldogs (3-0) showcased their depth. Coach Chris Jans had 12 players see the floor, with 10 of them playing at least 10 minutes. All but one of those 12 players scored, with the lone exception being Isaac Stansbury, who played just the last 81 seconds with the game having reached blowout territory.
MSU got another significant piece back in senior guard Shakeel Moore, who was suspended by the team for the first two games. Moore checked in to a nice ovation midway through the first half and finished with eight points, connected on his only 3-point attempt and later drew a foul by essentially leaping on a defender’s back as he made a layup.
“We wanted to have options and bodies and different ways to play,” Jans said. “I never dreamt that we’d have the injuries that we’ve had (and) that depth tested so early, but we have, and it’s been so far, so good. Hopefully the silver lining, six-to-eight weeks from now, will be how much deeper with the quality of depth we have because of all the experience and the minutes some guys are getting that maybe they wouldn’t have gotten if we didn’t have the injuries.”
The Bulldogs responded quickly after North Alabama (2-1) pulled within one possession. MSU immediately embarked on a 10-0 run, which included a 3-point play from Hubbard, a put-back dunk by Cameron Matthews, and a 3-pointer followed by a vicious slam courtesy of D.J. Jeffries, who had been held scoreless up to that point.
Starting in place of the injured Smith, Jimmy Bell Jr. filled the box score with 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with three blocks. A graduate transfer from West Virginia who played at Saint Louis and Moberly (Mo.) Area Junior College before that, Bell was brought in to back up Smith — who is expected to return in mid-January — but through three games has more than held his own as the starting center.
“I didn’t come in trying to replace him or do what he does,” Bell said. “I just came in being myself and knowing I have a big responsibility until he gets back.”
Defensively, the Bulldogs forced 20 turnovers, nearly as many as MSU had forced in its first two games combined against Arizona State and Tennessee-Martin. The Bulldogs converted those turnovers into 26 points, and their bench outscored the Lions’ non-starters 40-14.
MSU’s busy early-season slate continues this weekend with two games at the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Uncasville, Conn., where the Bulldogs will cap off a stretch of five games in 12 days by playing Washington State on Saturday and either Northwestern or Rhode Island on Sunday.
“We’ll have a couple of days to prepare for two games back to back,” Jans said. “We’re going to play for a championship. I’m sure the four teams that are there this year all have the same mindset. It’s going to be great competition, and I can’t wait to get up there and see how we compete and see how we handle the neutral site. I’m looking forward to the experience.”
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