The Mississippi State men’s basketball team began conference play with a close 56-54 win over South Carolina Wednesday night. The Bulldogs entered the contest with a 5-7 record, while the Gamecocks came in 10-3.
With the win, the Dogs snapped a two-game losing streak in SEC openers. Also, for the first time in the history of MSU men’s basketball, the Dogs won without making a three-point field goal (the team went 0-10 from beyond the arc.)
Freshman Craig Sword led the Dogs with 18 points and came up huge down the stretch, scoring nine points in the final 10 minutes. Head coach Rick Ray praised the performance of Sword after the game.
“He’s the one guy we know can get by if we draw something up for him,” Ray said. “Down the stretch, he was huge for us because he continually got the ball into the paint, and we needed that.”
State’s overall team defense hurried the Gamecocks throughout the game. MSU was down 44-50 with just over five minutes left in the game but held South Carolina scoreless for four minutes, during which the Dogs took the lead and never trailed again.
Sword credited Ray for the team’s solid defensive performance.
“Coach just told us to play every defensive possession like it’s your last,” Sword said. “Me and Fred (Thomas) just made a decision to go out and put pressure on the ball.”
Thomas and Tyson Cunningham continually put pressure on the ball and clogged up the passing lanes. The Bulldogs effectively switched between man-to-man defense and a 1-3-1 zone to really bother the Gamecocks, forcing 24 turnovers.
Thomas was active all game forcing turnovers, and Cunningham was excellent off the bench as he provided the perfect spark defensively for this team.
Ray said Thomas’s high activity on defense and Cunningham’s energy off the bench greatly helped the team.
“Fred Thomas is really active in the 1-3-1 defense. Because of his length, he’s able to get out in the passing lanes and force turnovers,” Ray said. “Tyson Cunningham is a company guy. Whatever the company needs, he’s gonna do it.”
The Dogs have dealt with adversity throughout the season, and they were faced with more in the final minutes of the game Wednesday. Ray was put in a tough position as he had to find a way to properly manage his lineups with fatigue, foul trouble and cramps bothering multiple players.
Ray said he was proud of the way his team handled and overcame the hardship.
“I think our guys did a really good job of persevering,” Ray said. “There were a lot of times I was looking for guys to sub, and Jalen (Steele) had a cramp, Chicken (Sword) had a cramp and Trivante (Bloodman) had four fouls. Guys were coming to me saying, ‘I need a sub,’ and I was like, ‘There are no subs.'”
The players on the court ultimately decide games, but the MSU players and coaches were adamant about the role the Bulldog fans had on the game, as the Hump was rocking throughout the game.
Roquez Johnson said the fans had a lot to do with his performance in the game.
“I gotta credit the crowd,” Johnson said. “It really boosts your energy up when they’re loud like that.”
Ray agreed and said his team fed off the crowd energy late in the game to make the come back.
“I can’t tell you how much it means to the players to have support like that because they’re kids, and they grew up watching college basketball and seeing the crazy atmospheres on TV, and they want that,” Ray said. “I thought the students got into it, and the fans got into it, and our guys really fed off that.”