Mississippi State uses second-half explosion to blow past North Alabama, 86-62, in season opener

It wasn’t always pretty but Mississippi State opened the season Wednesday with an 84-62 win over North Alabama at Humphrey Coliseum. After a sloppy first half, the Bulldogs used a 15-0 run early in the second half to break things open and roll past the Lions.

To no surprise, Josh Hubbard led the way for State with 27 points and a career-best eight assists. In his first game as a Bulldog, former UAB transfer Ja’Borri McGhee had 14 points and sophomore newcomer Sergej Macura had a game-high 12 boards. Shawn Jones also finished with seven points and nine rebounds.

Canin Jefferson led North Alabama with 16 points. Kevin deKovachich had 14 for the Lions while Braylon Patton added 12. The Lions won 24 games a year ago en route to an Atlantic Sun regular-season championship.

Head coach Chris Jans talked of the rally in the second half and what jumpstarted that Bulldog run.

“We fully expected them to come out and try to punch us in the face and play really hard, ” Jans remarked. “I got a lot of respect for Coach (Tony) Pujol and known him for a long, long time. They won 24 games last year and won their league, picked to win their league this year. As coaches, we expected them to challenge us and they were not going to not show up.

“The first half was fine and then all of a sudden it didn’t go our way. But the biggest difficulty was when we were down 51-42. But they figured it out and I thought we had a group out there that changed the tide with the defense and the rebounding and the running.”

Hubbard was also 10 of 12 at the free throw line, had two steals and no turnovers. After a slow first half, Hubbard noted of the increased intensity by the Bulldogs in that second-half run.

“We just got adjusted to the game,” Hubbard recalled. “We watched some clips at halftime on some things they were beating us on. We adjusted to it and just took off from there. We played off our grittiness and our toughness in the second half and ran up the score.”

North Alabama trailed 38-37 at halftime but opened the second half on fire. The Lions scored 10 straight and took a 51-42 lead early in the final half. But led by Hubbard, the Bulldogs had a bigger run of their own and had a 15-0 spurt to take a 57-51 following a pair of McGhee free throws with 11:39 remaining.

North Alabama (0-1) would never get any closer the rest of the way.

McGhee was also a key factor in the second half for State, and was 2 of 3 from 3 point range. He also finished with four rebounds, two assists and two steals, and none of that caught his head coach by surprise.

“”I’m not surprised at all,” Jans said of McGhee. “He’s a big, strong guard and an SEC athlete. He’s played college basketball for three years. He’s got a lot of pride. He’s got pride in his game, he’s got pride on the defensive end and he’s been very coachable.”

For Macura, it was his first collegiate game in the United States and the Slovenia native was impressed by the fanbase at Humphrey Coliseum.

“For a first-time game it was amazing,” noted Macura, who added seven points and two steals. “I really liked the crowd, the way they connected with us and we were feeding off their energy. It was amazing. The 12 rebounds is just a mirror reflection of the energy with the team and the crowd and everything. We tried to play hard and they (the crowd) helped us do that.”

For the game, State shot 44% from the field and made 8 of 27 from 3 point range. The Bulldogs were 16 of 24 at the charity stripe, including 11 of 14 in the second half. State had just seven turnovers and dominated the boards, 53-36. State’s bench also outscored UNA 37-20 and the Bulldogs held a 42-24 advantage with points in the paint.

North Alabama shot 37% from the field for the game and made 7 of 19 beyond the 3 point arc, just 1 of 9 from deep in the second half. The Lions were 7 of 12 at the foul line and had 13 turnovers.

Mississippi State led for much of the first half until the Lions went on a late run. Patton hit a 3 to cap off a 8-1 run by North Alabama and tied the game at 32-32 with 2:35 remaining in the half. A Jefferson 3 point gave the Lions a brief one-point lead in the closing seconds before State took a 38-37 halftime advantage.

In the first half, State shot 42% from the field and made 3 of 13 beyond the 3 point arc. The Bulldogs were just 5 of 10 at the line in the first half, had four turnovers and out-rebounded the Lions 25-17.

The Lions shot 47% in the opening half and made 6 of 10 from 3 point range. North Alabama was 3 of 6 at the foul line and had six first-half turnovers.

The competition takes a major step up next time out with State facing Iowa State away from Starkville. And naturally, Jans said his team has a lot to get done over the next few months.

“We’re still trying to figure out our team and we’ve still got a long way to go,” mentioned Jans. “I know what I want it to be, but that doesn’t mean we’ll get there. This was a step in the right direction.”

Up Next

The Bulldogs travel away from Starkville on Monday for the first time in the early season. Mississippi State will face Top 15 foe Iowa State in Sioux Falls, S.D., for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Monday and the game will be televised by ESPNU.