Mississippi State applied a principle most people learn in kindergarten in its Wednesday night game against the Auburn Tigers.The Bulldogs exhibited a lesson in the art of sharing, and Jamont Gordon and Ben Hansbrough earned gold stars for their mastery of it.
Gordon and Hansbrough were each credited with six assists, and the Bulldogs (19-8, 10-3 SEC) had a total of 22 assists, which played a vital role in the team’s 89-78 victory over the Tigers (14-12, 4-9 SEC) in front of 7,397 fans at Humphrey Coliseum.
Most of the helping passes went to Charles Rhodes and aided him in achieving a career-high 30 points.
“When our team shares the ball, we’re a hard team to beat,” Rhodes said.
The Bulldogs knew coming into the game that their assist-to-turnover ratio would need to improve from the season’s earlier meeting between the two squads.
Mississippi State cruised to an 83-64 victory in the previous game, but the Bulldogs had 24 turnovers in the contest.
In Wednesday’s game, the Bulldogs cut that number in half by turning it over only 12 times against a scrappy Auburn team that featured a line-up consisted mostly of guards.
The Tigers used their small line-up to their advantage early in the contest to stay with the Bulldogs on the scoreboard because of man-to-man defense early in the game.
The first half featured five lead changes during a struggle for possession.
Most of Auburn’s offense could be credited to senior forward Quan Prowell, who scored a career-best 31 points in the contest.
Prowell connected on five 3-pointers during the first half, which kept the Tigers in the game.
The 6-foot-8 Prowell served as the Tigers’ center for most of the game.
Under ordinary circumstances, Prowell would play the forward position, but Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury admitted that is a challenge for his team on the defensive side.
“Prowell is their center,” Stansbury said. “That’s what makes them so difficult.”
Prowell’s hot shooting in the opening half left Auburn down by only seven points at halftime, but he became less effective in the second half when Mississippi State made the decision to play a zone defense.
“I thought the change to zone changed the game for us,” Stansbury said. “The zone slowed their dribble down, and it was a much better situation than what we had earlier in the game.”
The Tigers fought against the zone defense and did well against it early in the second half, cutting the lead down to two points only five minutes into the half.
But the Bulldogs tightened their defense and sank a plethora of shots to widen their lead to as much as 17 later in the half.
All five Mississippi State starting players finished the game in double digits.
Gordon amassed 20 points, Jarvis Varnado had 14 and Barry Stewart and Hansbrough each collected 11 points.
And no one could forget about Rhodes’ career milestone.
“Boy, Rhodes is good,” Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo said. “We just don’t have an answer for him. He’s probably one of the best, if not the best, post players in this league.”
The game was his seventh 20-plus point game of the season, which Stansbury said shows his consistency.
“He’s playing hard and that’s the main thing,” the tenth-year Bulldog head coach said. “He plays with energy and plays with enthusiasm. And that effort has been consistent, which is what we’ve been looking for.”
The win over Auburn, coupled with Arkansas’ 59-56 loss to Alabama on Wednesday night, means the Bulldogs claimed at least a share of the SEC Western Division crown.
And while sharing is good on the court for the Bulldogs, Stansbury said a division crown isn’t something he desires to share.
“We’re not talking about sharing,” he said. “There are three games left, and we like the position we’re in. But there’s a lot of basketball left to be played, and we’re still fighting for a lot of things.”
The Bulldogs need only one win to secure an outright SEC Western Division title, and they can claim that with a victory in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday when they take the court for a 3 p.m. showdown with the Florida Gators (21-7, 8-5 SEC).
“It’s a really big game at the Swamp,” Rhodes said. “It’s crazy up there. I just have to get the guys ready because some guys haven’t played at the Swamp.”
The Gators currently possess a three-game winning streak over the Bulldogs. That winning streak includes a win in the last meeting between the two teams last season in Starkville, where the Gators claimed a close 70-67 victory.