Following Saturday’s 70-60 victory over Rutgers in Newark, N.J. — at a site that was neutral in name only — Mississippi State sits at 10-2 with one more non-conference tuneup, a New Year’s Eve tilt with Bethune-Cookman, before Southeastern Conference play begins. The Dispatch takes a look here at what has gone right and wrong so far for the Bulldogs.
Three up
Cameron Matthews
The senior wing has become a stat-sheet-stuffer of late, leading MSU in field goal percentage at .588 and coming off back-to-back games with double-digit rebounds. After a slow start to the season, Matthews has come alive in December with an average of 13.2 points over his last five games. The only game in that stretch where he did not score in double figures came against North Texas, and all he did that day was pull down 12 rebounds, dish out seven assists, block three shots and record five steals. Matthews followed that up with a season-high 18 points in the win over the Scarlet Knights.
Post depth
The big question mark coming into the season was how strong the Bulldogs could be in the interior without Tolu Smith, who is working his way back from a foot injury sustained in the preseason. For the most part, MSU has been just fine, particularly on the defensive end. Jimmy Bell Jr., a graduate transfer from West Virginia, put up 17 points and 18 rebounds against Rutgers — his third double-double of the season — to go along with three blocks. KeShawn Murphy had a career day in Tupelo against the Mean Green with 18 points in 23 minutes of action. Gai Chol has not played in the last two games, but is also a valuable depth piece if any of the others go down. Smith, who averaged 15.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game last year, is expected back by mid-January, if not before.
Perimeter defense
The Bulldogs’ opponents are shooting 26.4 percent from 3-point range, easily the lowest mark in the SEC and a big reason why MSU is allowing a conference-fewest 62.8 points per game. Dashawn Davis is the primary catalyst there and typically defends the other team’s best guard, and Shakeel Moore has also made a big impact defensively since cracking the starting lineup earlier this month. Despite all those missed shots from the Bulldogs’ opponents, MSU allows the fewest rebounds per game in the SEC (31.8) while collecting the third-most (40.9).
Three down
Momentary lapses in effort
Twice this month, the Bulldogs appeared to have a home game against a lesser opponent wrapped up before needing to hang on for dear life, and in the first of those, MSU was unable to do so. On Dec. 3 against Southern, the Bulldogs led by 11 with four and a half minutes to play and then never scored again, while the Jaguars made six of their final nine shots to stun MSU, 60-59. Ten days later, the Bulldogs let a 19-point lead in the second half against Murray State slip away and needed to rally back in the last minute to avoid another Quadrant 4 loss. MSU will need to handle its business against Bethune-Cookman on Sunday and then likely needs to win one or two SEC games in which it won’t be favored to make up for that loss to Southern.
Andrew Taylor/Trey Fort
The Bulldogs brought in the two transfers to help address their Achilles heel from last season, 3-point shooting, and at first it looked like both would help immensely. Fort broke out with 21 points in the season opener against Arizona State, then knocked down three of four shots from deep in the home opener against Tennessee-Martin. Since then, Fort is just 3-for-23 from behind the arc and hasn’t played at all in the last two games. Taylor, who was excellent last year with Marshall, has missed five games this season and scored a total of 27 points. His last action came against Murray State, when he made his only 3-point attempt and added two assists but picked up two fouls in eight minutes of action.
Slow starts
MSU has struggled at times to put 40 complete minutes together and needed to rally from early double-digit deficits against both Northwestern and North Texas. In both games, the Bulldogs eventually found high-percentage shots against strong defensive teams, but against the top half of the SEC, they may not be afforded time to feel out their opponents. Having Smith back will surely help, but MSU’s star post player is unlikely to be at full strength immediately upon his return. SEC play starts on Jan. 6 on the road against a South Carolina team that has exceeded preseason expectations, and the Bulldogs then host No. 6 Tennessee four days later.
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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 28 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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