STARKVILLE — Mississippi State didn’t get its offense into motion on its final first-half possession until barely five seconds remained on the shot clock and not much more was left on the game timer.
But the Bulldogs showed they were willing to be patient.
Tolu Smith tossed the ball out to the right wing for D.J. Jeffries, who calmly drained a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired and the halftime buzzer soon followed. The bucket gave MSU a 34-24 lead headed into the break, its first double-digit advantage of the game.
Akin to that possession, Mississippi State’s 74-54 win Monday night over Nebraska Omaha (3-5) featured some waiting.
The Bulldogs took most of the first half to get their oft-rusty offense into gear, trading leads with the Mavericks until the 8:47 mark.
From there, MSU outscored UNO 61-39 until the final buzzer.
The Bulldogs put what seemed to be the final nail in the Mavs’ coffin on a sequence spearheaded by junior wing Cameron Matthews midway through the second half.
Matthews made a nice move for a layup after a steal by guard Shakeel Moore, then stole the basketball himself and threw down a two-handed dunk.
It was another instance of the Bulldogs’ defense creating for their offense.
“That’s our calling card right now,” coach Chris Jans said. “We’ve got to be really, really good on that end of the floor because the ball’s not going through the net that much.”
The slam put MSU up 52-31, and when Omaha’s Jaeden Marshall sailed a pass out of bounds on an alley-oop attempt on the other end, the game seemed well in hand for the home team.
Mississippi State still has yet to lose under Chris Jans and can match an 8-0 start in 2017-18 with a win Saturday over Mississippi Valley State.
If the Bulldogs play with the energy and athleticism they showed Monday, that shouldn’t be a tough task.
Even when its offense wasn’t there, MSU ran the floor hard on defense, contesting shots and forcing 18 turnovers in the game.
“Defense has been a big thing for us, so we just want to keep emphasizing that and making sure that stays on point,” forward Tyler Stevenson said. “The offensive side is going to come, but we always want to keep working hard and practice the defensive stuff that we need to so we keep holding guys under a certain amount of points and just keep locking up.”
The Bulldogs’ offense indeed showed signs of improvement Monday after a 3-for-12 start to the contest.
MSU shot 43.1 percent from the field after hitting just 25 of its shots — in a win, nonetheless — on Wednesday against Utah in the Fort Myers tipoff.
Smith led MSU with 12 points, and Jeffries had 10.
A 3-pointer from Matthews put the Bulldogs ahead after they trailed 15-11 with a little less than 10 minutes to go in the first half.
MSU went on a 13-5 run to close the half, featuring four points from Smith and four more from redshirt freshman KeShawn Murphy.
The Bulldogs’ lead dipped below 10 points only twice in the second half, and a three-point play from Smith put a stop to that with 15:45 remaining.
It was the start of a 17-0 run that brought the lead to 25 points and buried the Mavericks for good.
Mississippi State has yet to allow more than 55 points in a game, but Jans said he was still disappointed with the Bulldogs’ defensive showing Monday.
“I thought we could have a little more of a dominating defensive performance,” Jans said.
On offense, at least, there was progress. Six players had eight or more points for the Bulldogs on a night where their full roster was unavailable.
Starting point guard Dashawn Davis was unavailable as he rests a lingering ankle injury, while guard Jamel Horton Jr. was not dressed Monday.
Jans said Davis was shut down following the win over Utah and will be reevaluated Wednesday, while Horton is day to day.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion