MSU gets first SEC win on the road

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Shakeel Moore scored a career-high 22 points, Tolu Smith had 15 points and eight rebounds and Mississippi State beat South Carolina 66-51 on Tuesday night for its second Southeastern Conference victory of the season and first league win on the road.

The Bulldogs improved to 14-8 overall and 2-7 in the SEC.

“No disrespect, but obviously South Carolina isn't at the top of our league this year,” MSU head coach Chris Jans said. “They certainly are competitive and beat Kentucky on the road, but we knew this was one that we had to get. We had to get a road win against a team we felt like we matched up with pretty well and we wanted to carry that momentum into Saturday.

“I'm happy for our guys.

Every time we go on the road now, we won't have to talk about the what ifs and won't have to talk about the fact we haven't won an SEC road game. That was crucial.”

The Bulldogs, who are coming off an 81-74 victory over No. 11 TCU behind Smith's career-high 27 points and 13 rebounds, posted back-to-back victories for the first time since opening the season 11-0.

MSU closed the first half on an 11-4 run and opened the second by scoring six straight points for a 38-26 lead. The Bulldogs extended it to 66-46 after making seven straight shots and holding South Carolina without a field goal for 4-plus minutes.

“I thought we came out in the second half and really reestablished ourselves,” Jan said. “Basically they had the back-to-back 3s to cut it to six (points). After that, it was close to double figures or more than double figures the rest of the game. I thought they had the right mindset. We got the ball inside and we didn't shoot as many 3s as I would have anticipated, but it was good. I was disappointed in the turnovers. We just had some silly, casual passes and we can't be doing that. Definitely happy we got the win.”

Tyler Stevenson added 12 points off the bench for MSU. Moore had three of State's 11 steals, leading to a 19-2 edge in fast-break points.

Freshman Gregory Jackson II scored 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting and Meechie Johnson added 13 for South Carolina (8-14, 1-8). Josh Gray grabbed 14 rebounds. The Gamecocks were held to 34% shooting and turned it over 18 times.

The Bulldogs host the Missouri Tigers at 5 p.m. Saturday.