Defensive play gets MSU back on track

There was one thing that had to happen for the Mississippi State Bulldogs if they were going to defeat rival Ole Miss and bounce back from two embarrassing Southeastern Conference losses.

To get the season turned back in the right direction, MSU knew first it was going to have to improve the effort on the defensive end of the court.

The Bulldogs did that as they defeated the Rebels 66-56 last Saturday night and held Ole Miss leading scorer Devontae Shuler to only four points and 1-for-15 shooting from the field.

MSU’S D.J. Stewart Jr. has the responsibility of guarding Shuler and head coach Ben Howland said his sophomore was more than up to the task.

“We came out and really did a good job defensively as a team,” Howland said. “We had some great individual efforts as well. D.J.’S defense matched up on Shuler was really phenomenal.”

After giving up 94 points to LSU and 72 points to Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs had to lock down on defense to get the desired results on the scoreboard.

Senior Abdul Ado said giving up the amount of points that MSU did against LSU and Vanderbilt was just not part of the identity of the team.

“We pride ourselves as a defensive team,” Ado said. “Our coach is a defensive coach. Defense is all about heart. You’ve got to want it and you need to have heart. I feel like that’s when we play our best basketball.

“When you play defense, you get stops, then you can run in transition and everything opens up for everybody.”

The Bulldogs have only three more regular season games before the SEC Tournament with the first coming at home Wednesday night against South Carolina.

Howland hopes the intensity that MSU showed against the Rebels will carry over down the stretch.

“We just had to have the resolve that we showed and I’m proud of them for that,” Howland said. “We want to build on this win and have two great practices heading into the South Carolina game on Wednesday.”