STARKVILLE — In consecutive years, Mississippi State coach Ben Howland has likened facing Frank Martin’s South Carolina teams to undergoing a root canal.
If results of this season’s two-game series are to be believed, the Bulldogs aren’t going to need dental work any time soon.
For the second time this month, the Bulldogs dominated the Gamecocks on the boards and stifled their offensive attack, winning a 69-48 contest Wednesday at Humphrey Coliseum. Looking at the stat sheet, Mississippi State coach Ben Howland beamed with glee noticing his team held South Carolina to 29 percent shooting and 4-of-21 beyond the arc.
“We passed the ball well and played great defense,” Howland said. “… We really built on our momentum from (Saturday’s win against Ole Miss).”
After getting destroyed 46-30 on the glass on Feb. 6 in Columbia, the rebounding battle in the rematch was even worse for the Gamecocks. Maybe a 49-24 rebound disparity is courtesy of an extremely dedicated MSU frontcourt playing tenacious defense in the post. Or perhaps ill effects of South Carolina (5-12, 3-10 SEC) now losing six games in a row and seven out of its last eight have sapped some will from Gamecock players. After all, Martin told his team last week if he was any of the players’ teammates, he’d be the least-liked athlete in the locker room.
Whatever the reason, the Bulldogs (13-11, 7-8) have won consecutive Southeastern Conference games for only the second time this season, and they’re not going to apologize for it.
“The reason for that is our defense,” Howland said of the rebounding disparity. “When you play defense like that, you have a lot of chances to grab missed shots.”
It wasn’t quite as spectacular as his 29-point performance in Columbia, but D.J. Stewart had a game-high 15 points to lead MSU. Stewart, primarily a two guard, has been utilized at the point more and more as the season progresses and flashed a 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio Wednesday.
“Whatever I can do to help the team,” Stewart said, who added that he played a bit of point guard in high school.
Abdul Ado was the only other Bulldog in double figures with 11, but Tolu Smith came close to a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds.
“We’re a young team, so going through adversity is great for us overall to find out about our team as a unit,” Smith said. “Going through ups and downs is good for us heading into big games like Alabama heading into the conference tournament.”
MSU elected to start Deivon Smith at point guard instead of incumbent starter Iverson Molinar, because Molinar was a few minutes late to a team obligation this week. Howland said Molinar rarely has been late to any team function in his two years with the team, but the sixth-year head coach preached the importance of “running a tightly-run ship.” Molinar scored nine points in 21 minutes of action and will be reinserted in the starting lineup Saturday, Howland said. On the flip side, two point guards on South Carolina’s roster didn’t even make the trip to Starkville.
“That definitely was a factor,” Howland said.
At halftime, Mississippi State led South Carolina 38-23 thanks to a 26-11 advantage on the boards and holding the Gamecocks to 26 percent shooting from the floor. The Bulldogs led the Gamecocks for almost 38 minutes of gametime Wednesday, never fearing the outcome was in doubt.
MSU is back in action against Alabama at 5 p.m. Saturday at Humphrey Coliseum. Although the Crimson Tide are at the top of the SEC, the winner in the last seven matchups of the MSU-Alabama series has been the home team.
DAWG NOTES: Earlier in the week, Howland told reporters he hopes the postponed road matchup with Auburn will be made up on March 6. The SEC built in a free weekend before the SEC tournament game for makeup games if needed, and this was MSU’s first postponement of the season.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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