With only two conference games remaining, the Mississippi State men’s basketball team picked up its biggest victory of the season Saturday, knocking off rival Ole Miss 73-67.
Head coach Rick Ray and Bulldog players said the environment at the game was crazy and loud as it has been at the Hump all season.
The week leading up to the game, Ray visited numerous fraternity and sorority houses, along with speaking to different organizations, trying to increase support from the student body. After the game, Ray said he was very pleased with how the fans came out in support of the team.
“I really appreciate the fan support, especially from the student body,” Ray said. “I can’t tell you how much energy and enthusiasm our guys had for that game when they saw the student section filled up like that.”
Junior Colin Borchert also said the fans helped fire the players up and played a huge role in the win.
“Coach has been putting in a lot of hard work lately to get our fan base to come back,” Borchert said. “They came out tonight (Saturday), and they showed out. They were there from the beginning just hollering, and they were there for us.”
Borchert had his best game as a Bulldog with a career-high 21 points on 70 percent shooting from the field. He also led the team in rebounds with seven. Ray said the rest of the team fed off him all night as he made one big shot after another to help lead MSU to victory.
Borchert attributed his big game to his coach’s advice.
“Coach always tells me, ‘When you hit a couple of threes, they are going to start flying at you, so just up fake and go to the rim,'” Borchert said.
Another huge motivating factor for MSU was diminishing the Rebels’ NCAA tournament hopes. Ole Miss will most likely have to win out and win the SEC tournament just to make the Big Dance.
Junior Jalen Steele said the players knew they damaged Ole Miss’s tournament hopes.
“It feels great to hurt their chances,” Steele said. “We might as well go ahead and try and hurt other people’s NCAA Tournament chances because we’re just fighting for what we got left at the end of the season.”   
With the win, State snapped a 13-game losing streak. Now that the Dogs have tasted victory again for the first time since Jan. 12, they can use this as momentum to carry them through their last two games of the season.
Ray said winning should be all the motivation his team needs to finish the season strong.
“We can’t be relying on a big home crowd or playing Ole Miss or trying to knock them out of the tournament,” Ray said. “I just want guys that are motivated by playing good and winning.”
State will travel to Columbia to play South Carolina Wednesday for the second time this season. MSU won the first meeting 56-54 back in early January. In this game, the Dogs held the Gamecocks to four points in the final five minutes of the game to rally from a 50-44 deficit.
Both South Carolina and MSU are 3-13 in conference play this season, which is the worst record in the division. USC has lost three straight and nine of its last 10 games, so both teams are looking to end their seasons on a positive note.
MSU will host Auburn to end regular season play Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and then travel to Nashville for the SEC Tournament.