After consecutive losses, including a come-from-ahead defeat to Southern, Mississippi State coach Chris Jans had a simple message for his Bulldogs on Saturday before they played Tulane in Atlanta.
“Let’s compete at everything all the time,” Jans said. “Not when it’s easy or when you’re fresh. Not just when you’re making shots, but all the time.”
Message received. The Bulldogs roared to a 62-34 lead at halftime and cruised to a 106-76 win, ending their brief skid and providing themselves with a reset.
Mississippi State will try to keep that level of play going on Wednesday night in Starkville when it hosts Murray State in another non-conference contest.
The Bulldogs (7-2) hit 58.6 percent of their field-goal tries Saturday and led by as many as 41 points in the second half against a good opponent. Freshman Josh Hubbard came off the bench to score a game-high 22 points, increasing his scoring average to a team-high 16.7 points per game.
“I just want to help the team however I can,” Hubbard said. “We all have roles on this team, and to be a great team, we all have to accept it and play our role. Once we all do that, we can be an unbelievable team.”
Meanwhile, the Racers (3-5) haven’t gotten off to the start they wanted. They’ve lost five of their last six, including Saturday night’s 53-49 defeat at Austin Peay in which they made only 19 of 51 shots from the field, including 7 of 25 from the 3-point line.
Murray State coach Steve Prohm thought the key was that the game was paced in a way that didn’t suit the Racers.
“We need to be running and putting pressure on people,” he said. “The game was just too slow for us.”
Rob Perry’s average of 15.0 points a game leads four Murray State players in double figures, and junior guard JaCobi Wood (13.5) needs just 10 points for 1,000 in his career.
–Field Level Media
