Mississippi State appeared on its way to a second straight blowout win to start Southeastern Conference play, leading Vanderbilt by as many as 22 points with 14 minutes left. But the much-improved Commodores did not make life easy on the No. 14 Bulldogs.
Vanderbilt made a furious run and closed within five points just ahead of the four-minute mark before MSU found a few key baskets late and closed out a 76-64 victory at Memorial Gymnasium.
“It took all 40 (minutes),” MSU head coach Chris Jans said. “We had a comfortable lead, and like every team in this league, especially when they’re at home, no one’s going to go away. There’s too much talent, there’s too much riding on each and every game. We certainly talked about all that stuff in the huddles, but unfortunately that happens sometimes. They did a tremendous job of fighting and scratching and clawing.”
With the shot clock winding down out of the final TV timeout, Claudell Harris drained a 3-pointer over the Commodores’ Grant Huffman to put the Bulldogs (14-1, 2-0 SEC) back up by eight. MSU then trapped A.J. Hoggard in the corner and KeShawn Murphy came up with a steal, leading to a Cameron Matthews dunk on the other end to make it a 10-point game.
The Bulldogs showcased their depth offensively, winning by double digits despite a season-low nine points from star sophomore guard Josh Hubbard. RJ Melendez led all scorers with 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting, including a rim-rattling dunk early in the second half that put MSU ahead by 20.
“We just came out soft in the second half. We didn’t guard as hard as we were guarding in the first half,” Melendez said. “They got a little momentum, and we started fouling a lot. Simple mistakes that we committed, but we were able to hang through on the road. It’s the SEC. Every team is going to make a run. It’s not going to be an easy night every night.”
The teams went back and forth early in the first half before the Bulldogs took the lead for good with a 9-0 run, punctuated by a Harris 3-pointer. Vanderbilt (13-2, 1-1) used free throws to pull within three, but MSU responded with a 10-0 run, with all 10 points coming in the paint or at the foul line.
Matthews finished with 16 points and three blocks, and — most crucially for him — was 4-for-4 on free throws. His mere presence on defense caused the Commodores to avoid the interior at times, and they were not hitting from outside, finishing 5-for-26 from behind the arc.
“We wanted to attack the rim as much as we could. We felt like we had a little bit of an advantage there,” Jans said. “They have some big, strong, skilled, burly guys around the basket, but they’re not big vertical rim protectors.”
Vanderbilt was in the bonus with more than 11 minutes left in the second half, and free throws helped the Commodores climb back into the game. But with a not-insignificant amount of maroon in the crowd of 8,688 in Nashville, the Bulldogs became just the third SEC team to win a road game in conference play so far.
MSU returns to Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday night for a huge showdown against No. 6 Kentucky. The Wildcats were upset at Georgia on Tuesday, but defeated Florida in a shootout last Saturday and earned two wins over the Bulldogs last year, including a 91-89 instant classic in Starkville in late February.
“I would rather (Kentucky) have won in their last game, because you can imagine what they’re going to be in practice, but that’s the way it is,” Jans said. “We’ll just be looking forward to the crowd and the setting and the opportunity that we’ll have on Saturday night.”
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