MSU sets the tone with defense
As good as Mississippi State's defense has been this year, Missouri has been equally as good on the offensive end.
The Tigers came to Starkville on Saturday averaging 83 points per game. That is second in the Southeastern Conference behind Alabama by just .1 point. Missouri led the league in field goal percentage (49%), assists (18) and assists/turnover ratio (1.51). The Tigers are also second in the league in 3-point percentage (36%).
Something had to give at Humphrey Coliseum in the matchup of Dawgs and Cats and MSU defense prevailed.
The Bulldogs held the Tigers to their lowest point total of the season and 31 points below their average in a 63-52 game. It was the third-straight win for a State team that is seemingly found its way and once again it was spearheaded by the effort and the intensity on the defensive end.
“Tip of the cap to coach (George) Brooks who had the scout,” MSU head coach Chris Jans said. “It was the hardest prep that I've had since I've been the coach here. They play a style that you don't see very often. They never let you relax. They just keep pounding on you and rely on you breaking down mentally and physically. I thought our guys had great intensity and focus from the get-go.”
Missouri hasn't scored fewer than 60 points this season but had just 52 on Saturday. One of the SEC'S best at shooting the 3-pointer, the Tigers were held to 6-for-23 and at one point were 1-13 from long range. They turned the ball over 15 times against the Bulldogs hectic defensive unit.
A big part of MSU'S success came from over midway in the first half into the second half. The Bulldogs gave up a field goal with 6:35 remaining in the first frame and didn't surrender a made shot until early in the second half. Missouri made just one field goal in over 13 minutes of game action over the course of two halves.
That allowed MSU to build a double-digit lead that got out to 14 points at one point. After the Tigers closed that lead down to two points, the Bulldogs pushed it back out for good. In the middle of all of that for MSU was Tyler Stevenson, a graduate transfer from Southern Miss who just refuses to accept a spot sitting on the bench.
There's a direct correlation to the Bulldogs' winning streak and Stevenson being a huge part off of the bench. After scoring 10 points on Saturday, Stevenson has scored in double figures in three-straight games. He had just two double-digit scoring games all season prior to that. The senior has also averaged 18 minutes a game in that stretch after averaging 8 minutes in the previous eight games.
“He's playing really well for us,” Jans said of Stevenson. “He's giving us that spark. We talked about Shak coming off the bench earlier in the year and giving us a spark and now he's a starter. Tyler is kind of assumed that role and I don't know if we could have predicted that.
“He obviously didn't play as well in the fall and I knew he could make shots for us. You can see that he can defend, rebound and compete at a high level and he's playing with his confidence now.”
After having over a month of futility, MSU isn't dead yet. In fact, it feels like the Bulldogs are just getting started.
The Humphrey Coliseum is bumping again with another great atmosphere in that game, and State has put three wins in its pocket after going through a stretch of seven losses in eight contests. A postseason resume is being built, but wins have to continue as MSU sits at 15-8 and 3-7 in SEC play. LSU comes to town on Wednesday night at 8 p.m.
The Bulldogs will be playing confident basketball and that's saying something after going through a tough month where they came up oh so short.
“It's mostly our leadership from the younger guys to the older guys,” MSU'S Tolu Smith said. “It's from talking to coach Jans and knowing that we are a good basketball team. We've just got to stay with it and the wins will come. They have.”