Mississippi State shuts down Missouri, 75-51, for first road win of the season

Mississippi State used a 22-4 run early in the second half and cruised to a 75-51 win at Missouri on Saturday evening. The win marked the first road win for the Bulldogs this season after dropping their first six road games of the season.

With the win, the Bulldogs moved to 16-8 overall and 5-6 in the SEC. The Tigers fell to 8-16 and dropped to 0-11 in the SEC.

State used a stingy defense to turn the Tigers over, which led to several easy baskets for the Bulldogs on the other end.

“We talked about that a lot going into the game,” said Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans regarding forcing turnovers. “Against Georgia we scored off our defense. I think we had 21 points off their miscues and we wanted to keep that momentum going. From the looks of it, we turned (Missouri) over at a higher level than we have been in recent games. That is our big push now, scoring off our defense and then playing inside-out on offense.”

Freshman Josh Hubbard had 16 points to pace State and made four 3 pointers on the night. Shakeel Moore finished with 14 points on 5 of 6 shooting, including a perfect 4 of 4 from 3 point range, and Tolu Smith posted another double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Cameron Matthews finished with nine points, seven rebounds and a career-high seven steals along with four assists. KeShawn Murphy and Shawn Jones each added seven points.

“It feels good to put the doubters at rest,” said Matthews. “We just came out here, played to the best of our ability and competed like we know we can do every night. It was physical, at times, and the refs let us do what we do. We got into the ball and guarded the ball, just flying around and making plays.”

Matthews got off to a slow start in the first half and was held scoreless in that opening half. He missed two shot attempts and all three free throw opportunities in the first half before scoring all nine of his points in the final half.

“He’s our leader on the floor, off the floor and in the locker room,” said Jans of Matthews. “I will be honest with you, though. I was pretty disappointed in him at halftime. He blew a couple of assignments and you would have to really watch to understand what we were trying to do.

“Offensively, he was a little sped up at times but that’s how he plays. The second half he really settled in and played much better and stuffed the stat sheet.”

Leading 30-26 at the half, the Bulldogs exploded after the opening minutes of the second half. At one point, State got seven straight points from Matthews to highlight a 22-4 run. The Bulldogs led by as many as 29 in the second half and captured their 13th win in the last 15 meetings with Missouri.

“Just keeping our foot on the gas and never letting up,” Matthews added about the second half run. “Getting out in transition and do what we do best. We stayed with the course and let the game come to us by not rushing anything.”

For the game, State shot 47% from the field and made 9 of 25 from 3 point range. The Bulldogs made just 10 of 21 at the foul line and had 12 turnovers. State outscored the Tigers 14-4 in points off turnovers thanks to 15 steals, and the Bulldogs outrebounded Missouri 39-31.

Nick Honor led the Tigers with 15 points while Tamar Bates added 11. Missouri shot just 34% from the floor and made 3 of 18 behind the arc. The Tigers were 16 of 20 at the charity stripe and had 20 turnovers.

After Missouri scored the first points of the game, State took a 10-6 lead after a pair of Hubbard 3 pointers and led the rest of the way. State took its largest lead of the half at 30-20 after a Smith layup capped off an 11-4 run. But the Tigers closed the half on a 6-0 run thanks to a pair of 3 pointers by Honor and State’s lead was 30-26 at halftime.

In the first half, State shot 39% from the field and made 4 of 11 behind the 3 point arc. The Bulldogs made just 4 of 11 at the foul line and had seven first-half turnovers. State outrebounded Missouri 20-17, including five offensive boards.

The Tigers shot 38% in the opening half and made 3 of 10 from 3 point territory. Missouri was 5 of 8 at the foul line and had 10 first-half turnovers.

Mississippi State doesn’t have a midweek contest next week, which should help with the recent injuries to Trey Fort and DJ Jeffries. The Bulldogs return to action Saturday against Arkansas for a 1 p.m. tipoff at Humphrey Coliseum.

“That means a lot,” Matthews noted. “While other teams might be playing, we got a whole week to game prep for Arkansas, getting our bodies right and trying to go out and get another win.”