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Bulldogs get six in double figures, dominate Jackson State 82-55

3rupauk8_400x400by: Robbie Faulk2 hours agoRobbieFaulkOn3
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Jaylah Lampley, Saniyah King, Destiney McPhaul and Madison Francis (Photo by Mississippi State Athletics)

Sam Purcell’s new-look Mississippi State team is still trying to figure itself out but the Bulldogs seem to be finding their footing early.

Thursday night’s matchup with Jackson State wasn’t a perfectly played game for four quarters, but State’s opening frame did the trick. A dominant start held up as the Bulldogs got a multitude of players involved on both ends and cruised to a 82-55 victory over the Tigers.

MSU jumped out to a 22-5 lead in the first quarter as the Bulldogs smothered JSU on defense and efficiently scored on offense.

“We just wanted to come out and not play with them,” senior guard Trayanna Crisp said. “With any team that we have on our schedule, anybody is capable of beating us. We came out with a message that we aren’t here to play and they’re an instate rival.”

 Defense let up a bit over the next two quarters as the two teams were even at 19-19 in the second quarter and the Bulldogs had a narrow 21-20 advantage during the third, but the lead was never closer than 15 points in each of those instances.

The fourth quarter would be a nice close for the Bulldogs as they finished that off with a 20-11 advantage.

Six players got in double figures for MSU (4-0) as Favour Nwaedozi finished with a career-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 6-of-9 free throws while hauling in 15 rebounds and dishing out four assists in 28 minutes. Freshman Jaylah Lampley finished with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting, Crisp had 12 points, four rebounds and three assists, Madison Francis had 11 points off the bench while Destiney McPhaul and Chandler Prater had 10 points each.

“I think we’re just very unselfish as a team and it’s a no-brainer that we have six players that had double digits,” Lampley said. “We’re very unselfish and very efficient and get in the gym trying to get 1% better every day.”

The Bulldogs shot efficiently with 32-of-58 makes (55%) and they held JSU to just 23-of-64 (36%). Neither team shot the three well as JSU was 6-of-23 and MSU 4-of-14 and the Bulldogs were 14-of-22 from the free throw line.

Purcell was worried about the Bulldogs’ rebounding coming into the game and they won that battle in narrow fashion 38-36. MSU turned JSU over 22 times and scored 26 points off of those turnovers.

After a good start to the season, the Bulldogs will have a chance to get an early marquee win. State has a week away from competition to prepare for a really tough opponent in Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders (4-0) are off to a great start themselves and are coming off of a 31-point win over SMU. Purcell and his Bulldogs will have their work cut out for them against TTU on the road.

“There’s some things that I can’t wait to show on film,” Purcell said. When we clean up the offense, we’ve got another level that we can get to and that’s the beauty of this game.”

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