Mississippi State’s victory over the Tigers on Sunday was not the most aestheticitally pleasing. However, the Mississippi State Bulldogs overcame one of their worst shooting performances of the season to defeat the Missouri Tigers 52-42 in Humphrey Coliseum.
Head coach Vic Schaefer said despite the poor shooting effort, he was proud of his team’s defensive output.
“As bad as we played, I have to give it to our kids for their resilience, especially on defense,” Schaefer said.
The result of that reselience was 27 turnovers for the No. 11 Bulldogs. The team also held the Tigers to their lowest point total of the season.
After gaining the victory on Super Bowl Sunday, MSU moved to second place in the Southeastern Conference Standings. The squad is now on a four-game win streak and has an overall record of 21-4 overall and 8-3 in league play.
The contest between the Bulldogs and the Tigers Sunday marked their second meeting of the season. Missouri took the first match of the series at home 66-54.
Sophomore point guard Morgan William paced the Bulldogs in scoring on the night with 17 points.
In the press conference after the game, William stressed the importance of contributing more within the offense.
“When I’m open I have to make those shots,” she said. “Making those shots gets my teammates involved because it draws their man.”
All-SEC sophomore guard Victoria Vivians had another stellar night, but not in her usaul manner. The Player of the Year candidate managed to notch 13 points on 5 of 19 shots. As great players often do, she found a way to contribute in other areas to help her team win .
On Sunday, that contribution was a team-high seven rebounds and a career- best five steals.
After the game, Vivians told reporters she knows her shots will come eventually, and when they do not, she assists the team in any other way possible.
“When your shots aren’t falling you have to do other things to help the team win,” Vivians said. “You have to play defense and do the other things to win games like this.”
After the effort Mizzou put forth against MSU in their first meeting, the Bulldogs felt it was important to establish themselves early in the game.
They did just that and jumped out to an early 11-point advantage in the first quarter. The Tigers fought back and trimmed the defecit to 23-18 at halftime.
The best example of MSU’s defense was the third quarter. In that quarter, Missouri got off only six shots and made none of them. Their only points came off nine free throws. The Tigers made the score 35-34 with seven minutes remaining and later to 45-42 with 1:31 left in the game. Defense yet again proved the determining factor as Vivians and William made crucial steals to seal the victory. The Bulldogs will face yet another ranked opponent Thursday when they visit No. 12 Texas A&M . Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
