Bulldogs beat Razorbacks on road
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Mississippi State may not be “the Golden State Warriors” yet, as has been a circulating joke among the Bulldogs, but lately they have been pretty good at being road warriors.
In the last two games in the Southeastern Conference away from Starkville, MSU has been winners.
Dashawn Davis scored 17 points and MSU picked up its fifth straight win with a 70-64 victory over Arkansas on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena.
The Bulldogs improved their records to 17-8 overall and 5-7 in the SEC.
“Just proud of my kids,” MSU head coach Chris Jans said. “I've heard all about this place. I've never been to a game here. I've been to AAU events here a long, long time ago, but obviously, it's a great venue to compete in. I felt really good about where we were and about this game. We talked about getting the road win at South Carolina and, not that we were happy about (losing), the way we handled the atmosphere at Alabama.”
Davis sank 6 of 11 shots from the floor with two 3-pointers for the Bulldogs (17-8, 5-7 Southeastern Conference). Shakeel Moore finished with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. Tolu Smith pitched in with 11 points and eight rebounds. Cameron Matthews added 10 points and six boards.
Anthony Black totaled 23 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals to pace the Razorbacks (17-8, 6-6), who saw their five-game win streak in SEC play end. Ricky Council IV had 10 points and six rebounds.
Mississippi State used a balanced scoring attack and 51.9% shooting from the floor to build a 3425 advantage at halftime. Moore, Davis and Smith all had six points and eight players scored for the Bulldogs. Black had 12 points in the first half for Arkansas. He made 5 of 8 shots, while his teammates sank only 4 of 18 attempts. Neither team scored over the final 1:28.
The Razorbacks whittled away at the lead in the second half, pulling within 60-57 on a Davis layup with 1:22 remaining. Matthews followed with two free throws and a layup to push the Bulldogs' lead to seven with 50 seconds left. Black scored twice for Arkansas, but Matthews hit two more free throws and Smith had a dunk to put the finishing touches on
Mississippi State's eighth win in the last 10 games against the Razorbacks.
The Bulldogs shot 47% overall to Arkansas' 44%, but MSU sank 6 of 10 attempts from 3-point range while the Razorbacks hit only 4 of 18. The Bulldogs led for all but 3:19 of the game.
Arkansas leads the series 35-33. Mississippi State notched its ninth win in 32 games in Fayetteville.
“We are going to enjoy this,” Jans said. “It will be a fun plane ride home. We're not going to get too ahead of ourselves. We know what it looming on Wednesday. We are going to get into it as a staff, but we're going to let the players enjoy it for 24 hours and try to put a plan together.”
The Bulldogs return home to play Kentucky on Wednesday.