After its overtime win over Texas A&M Saturday, the Mississippi State University men’s basketball team continued its success as it defeated the Auburn Tigers 82-74 Wednesday. With the win, the Dogs improved to 13-5 overall and 3-2 in the SEC. 
MSU continues to show improvement and development with each game. A big reason for the Bulldogs’ success in this game, and for the season as a whole, has been the team’s improvement on offense. 
Last season in 32 games, MSU scored 70 or more points just nine times. Wednesday’s game marked the ninth time the Bulldogs scored 70 or more points this season, just 18 games into the season.
The Bulldogs have now scored over 80 points in back-to-back games, a feat they only accomplished once last year. 
Senior forward Colin Borchert has played a huge role in both of those scoring outputs, putting up a combined 31 points in the two contests. 
Borchert credited home-court advantage for the Dogs’ recent hot streak. 
“We’ve been practicing hard, and we’ve really started to learn the offense,” Borchert said. “We’re at home. We’re in here every day getting shots up, and it’s just familiarity with the rims.” 
Head Coach Rick Ray also acknowledged his team’s newfound success this season on the offensive end and credits his team’s willingness to realize and accept its own strengths and weaknesses in its own game. 
“I think we’re finally starting to buy into who we are,” Ray said. “We’ve talked about how we’re not a good shooting team -— we’re not a good three-point shooting team — but that’s not the only way to score the basketball. If you continue to attack the basket and attack in the post, you can score.” 
Nobody embodied that message better than junior forward Roquez Johnson in the win against Auburn. 
He was in attack mode all night and finished the night as the Bulldogs’ leading scorer with 18 points. Johnson did most of his damage from the free throw line. 
His constant penetration and aggressive drives to the basket earned him 16 free throws on the night. 
The team as a whole shot 43 free throws. 
Johnson said his successful game at the line to Auburn having a soft defense. 
“Coach was telling me they’re not a physical team so I just went hard in the paint,” Johnson said. 
Borchert and Johnson had big nights, and Fred Thomas and Trivante Bloodman played key roles also each scoring in double figures. 
But the unsung hero of the game proved to be former walk-on Tyson Cunningham, who only played five minutes, but they were perhaps the most important minutes any player on the team contributed. 
At a time in the second half when the Bulldogs’ lead was cut to just one point and Auburn had all the momentum, Cunningham was subbed into the game and made an instant impact. 
He immediately got to the line and hit two big free throws and shortly after nailed a three-pointer. 
The entire sequence of events happened over a span lasting a little less than two minutes, and it completely turned momentum in MSU’s favor. 
A case can be made that the stretch put the Dogs in position to win the game. 
Cunningham said it can be tough coming off the bench cold and being asked to step in, but he is always ready to do what needs to be done. 
“Coach always tells me to be ready no matter what,” Cunningham said. “I was just in the right spots at the right time, and I was just grateful I could help my team win.”
Cunningham ended the night with five points off the bench, and the MSU bench contributed 28 points in the win. 
Auburn’s only scores came from the starting five players. 
The Bulldogs’ next game will be Saturday on the road in Oxford, Miss., at 3 p.m. in the second matchup against rival Ole Miss. 
The Bulldogs won the first match up 76-72 in Starkville on Jan. 11, but with the return of Marshall Henderson, this weekend’s matchup will be tougher on the road. 
Ray said Henderson being back in the lineup changes everything in the game plan. 
“Having him back makes a difference because they get the focal point of their offense back,” Ray said. “Regardless of what people think about him, he cuts so hard for 30-35 minutes in a game. Our guys get tired from guarding him and will say they need a break, and I will tell them he’s out there doing it and he doesn’t need a break.” 
If MSU wins Saturday, it will be the fourth SEC victory on the season, which will tie the total amount of conference wins from last season’s 4-14 mark.