STARKVILLE — A Cyclone warning was issued for the area surrounding Humphrey Coliseum Saturday evening.
But just as Vegas meteorologists forecasted, the visiting Iowa State Cyclones barely had enough gust to blow over a stray Starkville tumbleweed, let alone escape Mississippi with a victory.
Mississippi State (10-8) snapped a three-game skid by dismantling the hapless Cyclones (2-9), seeing four players reach double figures in a 95-56 victory as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. While the result itself really only matters for conference bragging rights, the Southeastern Conference captured the challenge by a score of 5-4.
“I thought we came out and played really hard,” MSU coach Ben Howland said.
Sitting winless in Big 12 play, Iowa State still had four players on its roster averaging double figures coming into Saturday. Yet, only two of them were available against the Bulldogs. Just how lousy were the Cyclones on Saturday? For context, MSU also beat Mississippi Valley State, rated the worst team in all of Division I by KenPom.com, by 39 points. The 39-point loss was the second-worst margin of defeat in Iowa State history to a nonconference opponent, with the program record sitting at a 41-point loss against Grinnell in 1910. Rust may have been a factor for ISU, as the Cyclones had four games postponed between Jan. 13 and Jan. 23 because of COVID-19 related issues.
“My heart goes out to Iowa State, too, because they’re without two of their starters,” Howland said. “They have some guys coming off of COVID protocol; it’s really obviously been a tough experience for them dealing with all the COVID issues.”
As it has been for most of the year, Saturday was the Iverson Molinar and D.J. Stewart show. Molinar had a game-high 20 points on a 8-of-13 shooting effort, while Stewart scored 17 points and dished out five assists. Tolu Smith chipped in 16 points and seven rebounds, while freshman guard Deivon Smith reached double-digit point totals for the third time this season after scoring 10 points and dishing out nine assists.
“Every turnover in practice this week meant 10 pushups,” Deivon Smith said, who had a 9-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio Saturday. “With these two practices before this game, everyone came in ready to take care of the ball and play together today.”
In all, 12 different Bulldogs scored, including Derek Fountain (seven points), Keondre Montgomery (two) and New Hope product Andrew Junkin (two).
“I was really happy to see Andrew Junkin get in at the end; he’s such a great kid,” Howland said of the walk-on. “All of these kids that got in, they’re really important for our team and we really have a great group and I’m proud of how supportive they are of each other each and every day.”
The Bulldogs suffocated the Cyclones defensively, holding them to 34 percent shooting and forcing 19 turnovers.
“We were trying to be hungrier than the other team,” Deivon Smith said. “I feel like the last few games we did lose, we played good team defense, but we came up short. Tonight, it was on every person to come together and play great.”
Iowa State couldn’t handle the MSU frontcourt, getting outscored 48-14 in the paint.
Despite building a 44-28 lead entering the break, the onslaught didn’t stop after halftime. MSU started the second half on a 9-0 run and outscored the Cyclones 24-5 in the first 7:30 of the second half.
MSU is back in action in a road matchup against Arkansas at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
“I’m just glad to get a win as we prepare to head out for another road game,” Howland said. “… We won’t be able to see too much film from this because we’re right on to Arkansas. But they all have access to it, and I’m sure they’ll watch it.”
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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