NASHVILLE — With a potential at-large bid in the NCAA tournament on the line, Mississippi State put the ball in its star player’s hands.
Senior forward Tolu Smith hit a layup with 4.1 seconds left in overtime to secure a 69-68 win over Florida in the second round of the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament Thursday in Bridgestone Arena.
“I thought that (senior guard) Dashawn (Davis) was going to lay it up and then he passed it at the last second,” Smith said. “I think it was a great play on his part.”
The last bucket capped a career-high 28-point game for Smith, who earlier this week was named to the All-SEC First Team. He also hauled in 12 rebounds, six of them on the offensive glass.
“It’s a luxury to have him,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans said. “In the fall, I said that if we wanted to have the year that we all wanted to have, he had to be an All-SEC first team player and he was. He delivered.”
Junior point guard Shakeel Moore, who ended the game with 13 points, scored 12 points in the game’s first 10 minutes, as the Bulldogs built a 14-point lead in the first half.
The Gators (16-16) stormed back to force overtime. They erased a seven-point MSU avantage in the extra period to take a one-point lead before Smith’s game-winner.
Mississippi State (21-11) out-rebounded the Gators, 46-35, and doubled them up, 18-9, in offensive rebounds. Offensively, they ran the post, outscoring them 38-26 in points in the paint, as the Gators reeled from the absence of injured senior forward Colin Castleton.
“At the end of the day, in these situations, it’s find a way, survive and advance, and that’s what we did,” Jans said.
Florida’s perimeter game also floundered to the tune of 8-of-35 behind the arc. However, while Florida struggled from the floor, the Bulldogs went ice cold to begin the second half – thanks to turnovers and 17 missed layups piling up empty possessions.
Having a strong contingent of Bulldog fans in attendance helped during that stretch.
“The fans always give us great support, home and away, and we definitely needed that,” Davis said.
The Bulldogs, the conference tournament’s No. 9 seed, now faces No. 1 seed Alabama in the quarterfinals. Tipoff is noon Friday. MSU fell in two regular season matchups to the Crimson Tide, losing 66-63 in Tuscaloosa and 78-67 at Humphrey Coliseum.
“We gave them a good run both times,” Smith said Thursday. “We made a couple mistakes in those games that I feel like we worked on and got better at and I think we’re going to give them a good run tomorrow.”
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