Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Ben Howland knew how much his team needed its 68-49 win over Missouri on Friday night to end a four-game skid and keep its flickering NCAA tournament hopes alive.
“Obviously really excited to get the win tonight, we needed it desperately,” Howland said. “We did one of our best defensive jobs in a long time … and I thought we handled the pressure well.”
The win moved Mississippi State (15-11, 6-7 Southeastern Conference) into a three-way tie with Florida and South Carolina in the conference standings.
The Bulldogs started the game quite slowly, but luckily for them so did Mizzou. But a 21-6 run over six minutes turned a 7-3 deficit into a 24-13 lead. They went into the locker room up a comfortable 34-23.
The story of the Bulldogs’ season has been their inability to finish games. It’s a bad habit that likely will cost them a shot at the tournament, but not one that hindered them in this one.
Stout though Mizzou was for much of the game, they could do little to keep up with State as the offense moved into another gear during the second half. Strong performances from Iverson Molinar (13 points on 5-of-6 shooting) and Tolu Smith (16 points in 28 minutes) paired with points from role players and bench players allowed the Bulldogs to build on their lead slowly but surely over the rest of the game.
DJ Jeffries finished with 12 points and a team-high 5 assists, Garrison Brooks totaled 10 points and 7 rebounds. Andersson Garcia led the Bulldogs with 8 rebounds.
The Bulldogs now face the rare test of playing the Tigers again on Sunday. Mississippi State has won the past five meetings with Missouri and 10 of the past 11.
“With one day of rest in between, it’s not easy, and they had difficulty getting here,” Howland said. “Give them credit, they’ll be much more rested and ready to battle us again. We know it’s going to be a really hard-fought game in Columbia.”
The Bulldogs will have four regular-season games left after the trip to Missouri, with games at South Carolina, home against Vanderbilt, home against Auburn and at Texas A&M before the SEC tournament.
“We’re just taking everything one game at a time,” Jeffries said. “We’re not overlooking anybody. We’re trying to win and build and get ourselves back in that (tournament) conversation and go from there.”
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