The Mississippi State Bulldogs (17-5, 7-4 Southeastern Conference) traveled to the plains, built a hill in 20 minutes, and told the Auburn Tigers (17-7, 6-5 SEC) they shouldn’t bother climbing it.
“I told them to play and act like they wanted to win a championship,” MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said. “We played with that one purpose and took a big step toward what we want to do.”
Auburn led 2-1 after three minutes, but never again thanks to a vise grip MSU defense that caused 38 missed shots. The Tigers didn’t help themselves by going 4-15 from the charity stripe.
Halftime score: Auburn 19; Timmy Bowers 17 of State’s 35.
“We knew they were soft in man-to-man, so I wanted to be aggressive. I got a roll on my first shot, and that built my confidence, I just took it from there,” Bowers said. “I put up extra shots Monday and Tuesday after practice and got comfortable with my follow through.”
The extra work paid off as Bowers notched a career high 25 of of 9-13 field goals (4-6 three’s) and 3-4 free throws.
Meanwhile, Mario Austin wiped a game-high 12 boards off the glass and scored 14, Ontario Harper scored seven and Derrick Zimmerman scored seven and dished five assists.
“Timmy stepped up, we did a good job of getting the ball into Mario, Z controlled the game, and Branden Vincent did a job that won’t show up in the stats,” Stansbury said.
On the defensive end, Vincent contained Auburn’s leading scorer, Marquis Daniels (18.6 ppg).
“Daniels had 17, but when we were in man-to-man and Branden had him, he didn’t score,” Stansbury said.
AU got 11 from Marco Killingsworth and not much else. The Tigers posted only five assists for the game.
MSU continued its trademark tenacious defense and rebounding. Before the skirmish for the top spot in the West, Auburn was second in the SEC in field goal percentage (48.4), while State entered atop the conference in field goal defense (39.2).
This improved as State frazzled and fritzed the Tigers into shooting 33.3 percent from the field and an abysmal 19 percent from behind the 3-point arc.
The ‘Dawgs entered the bout also atop the SEC in rebounding margin at +12.4. MSU out-rebounded AU 40-30. Stansbury credited the ‘Dawgs with having great poise and confidence as well as tremendous focus. After halftime, the closest Auburn trailed by was nine.
“Most teams don’t give us a chance of coming in and winning on their courts, but we know what we can do when we play great D,” Austin said. “This was a statement game.”
“We knew that they would be up for this game, but we knew we were the better team,” Bowers added.
Up next for the Bulldogs is a trip to Lexington to battle the No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats.
The Cats have savored 21 victories, have not tasted defeat in 15 games, and have pounced upon all SEC competitors and, at 11-0, lead the East.
“We have played well on the road this year,” Stansbury said. “A lot of people believe we should have won at Alabama and Georgia.”
“I don’t know if you can pack poise and confidence and take it to Rupp Arena, but we will look at the film and evaluate and work on what we can do to get the win.”
The ‘Dawg and ‘Cat fight that occurs on UK’s Centennial Celebration of basketball will begin at 1 p.m. CST and be nationally televised by CBS Sports.
The Bulldogs will return to the friendly confines of the Humphrey Coliseum Wednesday to take on the struggling Alabama Crimson Tide.