Bulldogs capture much-needed victory over the Crimson Tide
In the immediate aftermath of last Saturday's Mississippi State loss to Kentucky, Bulldogs head coach Ben Howland said Tuesday night's game against Alabama was one his team had to have.
Well Howland's MSU team got the job done and did so in convincing fashion.
Mississippi State never trailed as the Bulldogs rolled to an 81-62 victory over the Crimson Tide at Humphrey Coliseum. The victory improved MSU to 17-7 overall and 5-6 in Southeastern Conference play, but more importantly, kept State solidly on a path that could earn the school's first NCAA Tournament berth in a decade.
“This was a very important win,” Howland said.
Alabama fell to 15-9 overall and 6-5 in SEC action with its loss.
Mississippi State entered the game reeling a bit after home losses to LSU and Kentucky last week. With the Bulldogs' margin for error for the rest of the season starting to shrink a touch as MSU tries to claim an at-large berth in March's big dance, State reestablished itself and gained a little firmer footing moving forward courtesy of Tuesday's win.
“(There was a) sense of urgency and understanding of where we are,” Howland said of his team's mindset leading into the game. “We talked about where we are and what we need to do moving forward.”
On Tuesday, MSU took a strong step in the direction Howland desires. Howland called it the best game Mississippi State has played since he became the head coach of the Bulldogs back in 2015.
Lamar Peters led the way for State. The junior point guard led all scorers with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Senior Quinndary Weatherspoon had yet another strong showing for the Bulldogs in what has become an outstanding final campaign in maroon and white. Weatherspoon poured in 20 points, going 8-for-10 from the field. It's the fourth time in the last six games Weatherspoon has scored at least 20. Weatherspoon also had a team-leading six assists.
Reggie Perry and Abdul Ado both reached double figures for State. Perry scored 14 and led the Bulldogs with 10 rebounds to notch his fifth doubledouble of the season. Ado scored 10. It's just the fourth time this season Ado has reached double figures.
State's victory avenged a loss last month at Alabama. Back on January 29, the Crimson Tide topped the Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa by a score of 83-79. In that game, Alabama found success inside as 54 of its 83 points that night came from the paint.
MSU made sure Alabama didn't replicate that success. The Crimson Tide scored only 24 points from the paint on Tuesday. Mississippi State actually outscored Alabama inside 40-24.
“We just played a lot harder this time,” Perry said. “We helped each other out. We helped when the ball went to the bigs and we helped when they full-fronted. We just wanted to play a little harder (inside) than we did in the previous game.”
The Bulldogs also were able to capitalize on numerous Crimson Tide turnovers. Alabama turned the ball over 18 times and State scored a whopping 28 points off of those chances. Meanwhile, Alabama scored only five points off of 12 MSU turnovers.
“Whenever you turn the ball over like we did, it's hard to get your defense set,” Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said.
“Mississippi State is a fast team. Nick Weatherspoon and Peters and those guys in a foot race – they're fast. It just looked like we were playing catch-up most of the night.”
MSU led by double digits for the majority of the evening. With 4:02 to go, Alabama cut the Mississippi State lead down to 10 points with a 3-pointer, however the Bulldogs held the Crimson Tide scoreless the rest of the way and added on offensively to coast to the triumph.
Mississippi State's win now establishes momentum for the Bulldogs as they hit the road for a pair of SEC games. MSU next plays at Arkansas on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. before heading to Georgia for a 5:30 p.m. game on Wednesday, February 20.