STARKVILLE — Everything was clicking for Mississippi State in the second half Saturday.
Nick Weatherspoon was flirting with a triple-double. D.J. Stewart had his best offensive output of his career. Reggie Perry quitely had another 20-point plus performance.
And the Bulldogs (14-7, 5-3 SEC) were shooting more than 70 percent from the floor in the second half until the final two minutes. Hard to lose that way.
“That’s usually going to be a winning formula,” MSU coach Ben Howland said.
It all added up to the Bulldogs’ fifth straight Southeastern Conference win, a 86-73 victory over Tennessee (12-9, 4-4) at Humphrey Coliseum. After getting past the Vols, MSU has climbed to at least fourth place in the SEC standings after an 0-3 start in conference play and has won five of its last six overall.
“That was obviously a really big win for us against a really good program and team,” Howland said. … We just have to keep taking care of our business here. We have a chance here to be something good here now as we keep getting better.”
It also cleared what had been a substantial roadblock in recent years by taking out its conference rival from Knoxville. Entering Saturday’s contest, the Volunteers had won four straight contests against the Bulldogs and 10 of the last 12 meetings.
But perhaps most importantly, the win likely helps put MSU on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble, at least for now. After a monumental road upset of Florida Tuesday, ESPN still had the Bulldogs as one of the first teams out in the bracketology projections, while CBSSports put MSU in the tournament as a No. 11 seed. KenPom.com projects Mississippi state to win all but two (road matchups with Kentucky and Arkansas) of its 10 remaining games. That would put the Bulldogs at 22-9 overall and 13-5 in SEC play.
Nevertheless, first things first.
MSU found itself trailing at halftime for the third straight game, as Tennessee led 34-28 entering the break thanks to a 5 of 9 shooting clip from beyond the arc.
“I’m getting tired of us being down at the half and always having to mount comebacks,” Howland said.
The Bulldogs put together a 10-0 run in the second half that gave them a 45-40 lead, mostly by forcing Tennessee to foul in the paint. Tennessee got in foul trouble early, picking up seven team fouls with 14:13 remaining. The Bulldogs never trailed from that point on.
Down low, MSU scored 32 points in the paint.
“The second half, they just dominated us inside,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “We didn’t have an answer for it. That’s what’s frustrating … You give up 58 points in a half, you don’t deserve to win. Period.”
Perry continued what looks to be a formidable SEC Player of the Year campaign against the Volunteers, recording his SEC leading 12th double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds. In his last three conference games, Perry, a 6-foot-10 forward, has done a big chunk of his damage at the free throw line. Against Tennessee, the sophomore made 12 of 15 free throws and has now converted 32 of 37 charity stripe shots in that three-game stretch. As a team, MSU made 25 of 30 free throws Saturday.
“He’s doing a great job there,” Howland said. “And it doesn’t just happen. He’s a tireless worker there.”
D.J. Stewart, considered the team’s second best perimeter defender behind Weatherspoon, continues to make progress on the offensive end. The redshirt freshman was rewarded with a career-high 20 points and made 6 of 9 shots, four coming from beyond the arc.
“It was amazing,” Stewart said. “Shoutout to the fans and shoutout to Reggie for finding me.”
Meanwhile, Weatherspoon racked up a career-high nine assists. The junior point guard has had at least six assists in four of his last five games, all with two turnovers or less. He also scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
“We were trying to get out in transition and I was trying to find Reggie as often as I could in transition,” Weatherspoon said. “I have to thank my teammates for knocking shots down, because they’re the reason I’m getting all these assists.”
Robert Woodard II, who Howland dubbed “Mr. consistency” Saturday, was the other MSU player in double figures, contributing 14 points on a 7 of 10 shooting night. The Bulldogs outrebounded Tennessee 36-24 and shot 57.1 percent from the floor, 69.2 percent in the second half.
Earlier in the week, Weatherspoon pleaded with fans on social media to “pack the Hump.” He was pleased with Saturday’s turnout, the second largest home crowd of the season for MSU, with 8,113 fans in attendance.
“It was great, they were a big part of why we were getting stops,” Weatherspoon said. “I also feel like D.J. was feeding off the crowd with those 3-pointers. They really played a big role tonight.”
MSU is back in action against at 8 p.m. Tuesday against Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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