Mississippi State delivered a message to No. 15 Ole Miss Saturday. In fact, it was hand-delivered on the court by senior Charles Rhodes. The message? The Bulldogs can play offense, too.
Rhodes scored a season-high 26 points and led a Mississippi State (14-5, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) scoring onslaught in an 88-68 trouncing of Ole Miss (15-3, 2-3 SEC) in front of 10,421 raucous fans at the Humphrey Coliseum.
The Rebels came into the game with the league’s top-scoring offense in conference games, averaging 81 points in each SEC game this season.
But the Bulldogs came into the contest with the stingiest field goal percentage defense in conference games, allowing only 52 points per game.
Something had to give, and that something was the typically high-octane offense of Ole Miss.
The Bulldogs held their in-state rivals to a paltry 37 percent shooting from the field.
In addition to that, Mississippi State also added a little offense of its own.
The home team shot 57 percent for the game, including 69 percent during the second half.
“We want to do what we do. We have a lot of pride in our ability to defend,” Bulldogs head coach Rick Stansbury said. “We understand that they score a lot of points, but at the same time we don’t give up a lot of points consistently.”
The team’s high field goal percentage was due in large part to the efficient shooting of Rhodes, who was 12 for 14.
Rhodes utilized many different types of shots out of the 14 he attempted, including fall-away jump shots and crafty maneuvers along the baseline.
His efficient shooting led him to believe that the rivalry game was his best conference game of the season.
“In the SEC [games], I have to say that was my best game of the year,” the Jackson native said. “I had to step up. I’ve had some nagging injuries so it was tough for me, but I just had to suck it up and play with a lot of energy for my team.”
One of Rhodes’ dunks occurred as a result of an off-balance, behind-the-back pass from junior All-American candidate Jamont Gordon.
The pass was one of six assists from Gordon, who also contributed 13 points to the Mississippi State winning cause.
His ability to score those points and the way he handled the ball during Saturday’s game impressed second-year Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy.
“We had no answer for Jamont Gordon,” Kennedy said. “He went where he wanted, when he wanted and did what he wanted to us all night.”
Gordon also played a key role on the defensive side of the ball, embracing the challenge of guarding Ole Miss freshman point guard Chris Warren.
Warren came into the contest leading his team with 16 points and five assists per game.
The 5-foot-10-inch guard was fresh off a 25 point performance in the team’s previous game against Auburn, where he nailed seven three-pointers.
But with the 6-foot-4-inch, 230 pound Gordon clamping down on him and making him take difficult shots, Warren was held to 15 points on 5-of-20 from the field and only 2-for-10 from 3-point range.
“He’s a good player, but I took that challenge to slow him down a little bit,” Gordon said. “I knew he couldn’t shoot over me, so mainly I just stayed in front of him while he was driving.”
Ole Miss was forced to rely more heavily on Warren, despite the freshman having a difficult time making shots with Gordon guarding him, after its two big men got into foul trouble early in the game.
Senior frontcourt players Dwayne Curtis, who entered the game averaging 15 points and nine rebounds per game, and Kenny Williams are key elements for the Ole Miss squad, but both had three fouls early in the second half.
“I thought the biggest key was picking up early fouls,” Kennedy said. “When he and Kenny got those early fouls, we had to go a little deeper than we would have liked to go.”
When the two frontcourt players got into foul trouble, Kennedy was forced to rely heavily on inexperienced freshman forward Malcolm White due to senior Jeremy Parnell’s inability to play in the contest because of a high ankle sprain, which had kept him out of two of the team’s previous three games.
White was on the floor for 20 minutes of the contest, which was the second-highest total he has played in a game this season.
White scored nine points, but his lack of experience showed against the savvy veteran Rhodes, who seemingly had his way with White down in the post.
“Everybody in this room knows he [Rhodes] is going with that right shoulder, and we talked about that,” Kennedy said. “We had a week to prepare, but we allowed him to get to that right shoulder, and when he does that he’s very effective.”
Rhodes’ offensive prowess benefited the Bulldogs late in the game when they iced it by utilizing the shot clock and putting shots into the basket near the expiration time.
And Rhodes’ scoring plus the rest of the Bulldogs’ offense led to increasing dominance which eventually gave Mississippi State its ninth consecutive victory.
Even though he is content with the team’s current winning streak, Stansbury is not ready to let the team take a break and bask in extended glory.
“It’s five games, and it’s a long season,” Stansbury said. “We’re 5-0, and the only thing that matters is the next [game]. Right now, it’s about the long season.
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Dawgs stay perfect, top No. 15 Ole Miss
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