MSU (11-5 overall, 2-0 SEC) used its tight defense to limit its opposition on the way to two crucial Southeastern Conference opening victories. The Bulldogs trounced Louisiana State University (0-2, 7-9) 61-39 Wednesday in Baton Rouge and cruised to a 60-49 win in a physical game against Georgia (9-5, 0-1) on Saturday at the Humphrey Coliseum.
Both games saw Mississippi State hold its opponent under 25 percent in shots from the field throughout the game.
Behind the dynamic play of sophomore Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State limited Georgia to a meager 24.6 percent from the field.
Varnado was only one point and one rebound away from a triple-double in the contest.
He finished with nine points, nine rebounds and tied his own school record with 10 blocked shots in only 21 minutes of action, which impressed head coach Rick Stansbury.
“Defensively, he changes that game so much,” said Stansbury, who was presented before the game with a plaque in honor of becoming the all-time coaching wins leader at Mississippi State. “Ten blocks, nine points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes. Twenty-one minutes is the impressive thing. That would be impressive in 41 minutes.”
Varnado started the game by transferring the ball over to Jamont Gordon at the opening tip-off.
Less than a minute later, sophomore guard Barry Stewart fed the ball to him inside where he slammed the ball through the net and was fouled.
A couple of minutes later, he had corralled two rebounds on the defensive end and had swatted two shots from Georgia players.
All in a few minutes work for the Brownsville, Tenn., native, who still remained humble while discussing those moments after the victory.
“I just block shots and rebound,” Varnado said. “There’s no pressure at all.”
Georgia regained the lead early in the second half, which was near the point when Varnado left the game due to an injury he received after falling hard to the court when leaping for a rebound.
The rest of the Bulldogs took over for the remainder of the contest and regained the lead, which they would not relinquish throughout the rest of the game.
Varnado’s backcourt counterpart Charles Rhodes received his
first game action since the Dec. 21 game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The senior played 12 minutes and scored eight points to go along with three rebounds.
Despite winning the game by 11 points, Stansbury was quick to give Georgia praise.
“They are one of the best defensive teams in this league in the half-court,” he said. “We didn’t want to get in a physical match with them. They really got into us and made it difficult to execute with any consistency at all. But our team found a way to do what it does best – and that is play defense.”
That defense is also recognized by the players.
“We have got a lot of great defensive players, and we are rotating and helping each other out,” Gordon said.
Saturday’s victory came on the heels of a 61-39 blowout win in Baton Rouge over the LSU Tigers.
That win also could be credited to terrific defense by the Bulldogs, which the team has grown accustomed to during its winning streak.
Coming into the LSU game, the Bulldogs were ranked 11th in the nation in field goal percentage defense and were also first in the category out of all teams in the SEC.
They followed suit by shutting down LSU’s offensive output and holding the home team to 21.2 percent on an anemic 14-of-66 from the field.
The team came into the game without Charles Rhodes for the third-consecutive game but yet again had players to step up and take over when the team needed it.
“The thing that I’m most pleased with is how we came in here and did it,” Stansbury said after the game. “We all know our so-called best, strongest post guy wasn’t able to play again. When that doesn’t happen you’ve got to have other people step up.”
That’s exactly what Rhodes’ starting frontcourt teammate did.
Varnado led the defensive effort with a career-high 17 rebounds and seven blocks.
He also helped out on the Bulldogs on the offensive side by co-leading the team in points for the game with 13.
“We needed a big man presence in the post, so with Charles being out I just had to step up my offensive game and keep doing what I do on defense,” Varnado said.
Mississippi State started the game by taking an early lead and maintained a 25-19 lead at halftime despite having 10 turnovers at the break.
The Tigers came out of halftime and closed the Bulldogs’ lead to three points, but Mississippi State fired back with a 13-2 run in the early minutes of the second half to give the team a sizable lead.
Jamont Gordon, like Varnado, scored 13 points in the game to go along with six rebounds, and sophomore guard Barry Stewart scored 11 points.
Varnado, Gordon and Stewart were the only Bulldog players to eclipse double-digit scoring.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs will attempt to improve upon their best SEC start since the 2005 season when they play host to the Kentucky Wildcats (7-7, 1-0), who are fresh off a victory over the previously unbeaten Vanderbilt Commodores.
The two teams are scheduled for an 8 p.m. tip-off tonight at the Humphrey Coliseum.
However, the Bulldogs might be without a couple of their usual
starters.
Sophomore Ben Hansbrough fractured his left middle finger early in Saturday’s game and played for most of the game, but it remained swollen throughout the contest.
Rhodes seemed to aggravate the ankle injury which kept him out of action for the previous three games late in Saturday’s game.
Hansbrough and Rhodes could be game-time decisions for Tuesday’s showdown with Kentucky.