Twice this year Mississippi State has had to rebound after tough losses, and both times the LSU Tigers have provided the Bulldogs with the perfect
opportunity.
After being upset by Alabama on Saturday, the Bulldogs out-hustled, out-rebounded and out-played LSU to the tune of an 84-58 pasting in front of 10,054 at Humphrey Coliseum Wednesday night.
With the win, the Bulldogs clinched the SEC Western Division with three games left to go in the season.
“I’m proud of our basketball team because of the way they responded,” said head coach Rick Stansbury. “That was more us tonight.”
The Bulldogs looked nothing like the team that struggled shooting the ball against the Crimson Tide.
The Dawgs hit their first three three-point attempts and started the game on a 15-3 run in the first three minutes. Timmy Bowers scored seven of the first 12 points.
“I told the guys after the game Saturday that I was going to be more aggressive on offense and try to help them score some points early in the game,” Bowers said.
“I shot some open shots that I usually don’t shoot that early in the game and they went in for me,” he added.
State shot the lights out in The Hump in the first half, making 65.5 percent from the floor and 5-7 from behind the three-point arc.
Mississippi State’s transition offense led to lay-ups and open shots and resulted in a 46-30 halftime lead even with star forward Lawrence Roberts playing only a limited amount.
Roberts had only 10 minutes in the first half and scored just four points during that time because of foul trouble. However, he finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds.
“We planned (the high shooting percentage) this game, and didn’t plan it last game,” Stansbury said with a chuckle.
The Bulldogs continued with more of the same in the second half.
They never led by less than 14 points in the second half and were able to empty the bench in the closing minutes and let their subs close out the victory.