If this game had been televised, it would have been a two-hour ad for balanced Bulldog basketball. Each starter reached double figures and five others scratched the scoring column.
The visiting Vanderbilt Commodores (10-9, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) scored the first deuce against Mississippi State (14-5, 4-4 SEC). State bit Vandy with senior Michal Ignerski’s three-point play followed by junior Mario Austin’s slam. Then lockjaw set in.
“Coach (Stansbury) told us to go out and cause havoc on D and take them out of what they wanted to do,” MSU senior Derrick Zimmerman said.
“We knew that Vandy was coming in playing as well as they had all season long,” Stansbury said. “We came out and defensively established the way that the game was played in both halves.”
Seven to four was the narrowest State lead thereafter as MSU opened the throttle, sped the tempo and forced 21 turnovers. The ‘Dawgs out-rebounded the ‘Dores 38-24 and rejected six shots.
“Our athleticism had a lot to do with their guards not scoring,” junior Timmy Bowers said. “We had a lot of pressure on their wings tonight, and they were unable to do what they wanted.”
Vandy’s starting backcourt combined for six points, two assists and six turnovers. Bowers and the Z-man combined for 27, 12 and eight, respectively.
Austin endured early foul trouble to snag a game-high eight boards and score 12 of his 14 in the second half.
“I just wanted to get my mind on what to do in the second half,” Austin said. “Scoring the way we did will show everybody that we have players that can come out any night and give us a certain amount of points.”
Sophomore Ontario Harper scored 13 and made three steals and Ignerski scored 11 and grabbed six rebounds.
“I’ve been trying to focus on defense to get my adrenaline and emotions going,” Harper said.
“We did a great job of sharing the basketball. Anytime Harper can help our team offensively, we are so much better,” Stansbury said.
SEC Player of the Week Matt Freije led all scorers with 21 while Brian Thornton added 13 for the ‘Dores.
“I just wanted to do what I was supposed to do,” Ignerski said. “We knew that Freije was going to step out and make some shots, but we didn’t let the other players hurt us.”
Iggy, a native of Lublin, Poland, frequently waved to his own personal fan club composed of international and American students that displayed the flag of his native land.
State maintained focus through a full-court pressure early in the second half that turned a 36-24 lead at intermission into a 47-26 margin in five minutes.
Stansbury credited “things we’ve worked on in the past, things we’ve talked about and things we hadn’t done,” for the ability to maintain control.
“It’s a 40-minute game. You can’t play 38 minutes–we had found that out,” Harper said.
“If someone read my lips, which I hope sometimes that they don’t when I am on the court, they saw me say, ‘Killer Instinct'”, Z said.
Marcus Campbell (5 pts.), Winsome Frazier (4 pts., 4 steals), Branden Vincent (4 pts., 4 rebounds) Lincoln Smith (2 pts.) and Dennis Buse (2 pts.) rounded out MSU’s scoring.
VU, now 0-8 on the road, missed 13 of 19 3-pt. attempts, while MSU sank seven of 14. State shot 56.9 percent from the field and held Vandy to 43.4.
Up next, the Bulldogs will host the Arkansas Razorbacks (7-11, 2-5 SEC). The Hogs are winless away from Fayetteville, but will enter Saturday’s 4 p.m. showdown on the heels of an 81-70 upset over No. 20 Alabama. Jonathon Modica has posted back-to-back 26-point outings for UA.