Analyzing Mississippi State's Two-Way Dominance Over Top-Seeded Tennessee
The Mississippi State men's basketball team dismantled No. 5 Tennessee 73-56 in the quarterfinal round of the SEC Tournament on Friday afternoon. The Bulldogs entered the tournament as the conference's No. 9 seed, while the Volunteers were at the No. 1 spot.
Despite the difference in seeding and record, the Bulldogs were the better team from start to finish, as Tennessee never led at any point in the game. They accomplished this remarkable feat by being efficient on offense and extremely stout on defense.
Offensive Analysis
Mississippi State opened the game up with 15 on 7-of-12 shooting before the TV timeout with 11:52 remaining in the first half. Throughout the season, the Bulldogs have done a very solid job of spreading the ball around as several players average around the same amount of points. The start of Friday's game was no different as all five starters had their names on the score chart at the 11:52 timeout.
The lead only grew from there as Mississippi State scored 38 points on an extremely efficient 16-of-26 from the field (61.5 percent) at halftime. As previously stated, the Bulldogs typically even out their scorers, but freshman guard Josh Hubbard and big man Tolu Smith have been Mississippi State's points-per-game leaders by a decent margin. However, they combined for just 11 points in the first half.
Forward Cameron Matthews, an All-SEC Defensive Team member, has been known for his versatility throughout the season as he's top-3 among the Bulldogs in every stat category. Matthews, who averages 9.4 points per game, was the team leader in the opening 20 minutes as he tallied 12 on a perfect 5-of-5 from the field.
The second half was relatively more of the same as the Bulldogs finished the game shooting 26-of-47 (55.5 percent) from the field. It's pretty apparent that three-pointers embody basketball culture in today's world, but Mississippi State only attempted 13 of them and made just four. Hubbard was responsible for three of those makes as he closed Friday tied with Matthews, who went 7-for-7 from the field, for a team-high 18 points.
Mississippi State created such a large first-half lead by driving inside and scoring a jaw-dropping 28 points in the paint. They were limited to 14 in that category in the second half but Tennessee still couldn't stop the Bulldogs' aggression as they ended the game hitting 17-of-22 free throw attempts, including 12-of-14 in the second half alone.
Defensive Analysis
At the aforementioned 11:52 first-half timeout, Mississippi State scored 15 points, but Tennessee only had four on 2-of-12 shooting from the field, including 0-of-5 from behind the arc. Additionally, the Bulldogs forced four turnovers and swiped three steals at the time.
Mississippi State's defense only grew more stout from there as Tennessee went to the halftime locker room with a season-low 19 points on 7-of-34 from the field (20.6), including 2-of-19 from downtown. The Bulldogs had the same amount of steals as the Vols (5--including three from guard Dashawn Davis) and committed just two fewer turnovers than Tennessee, but their defense continued to lock down after making a few mistakes on the other end.
Sensing a massive comeback was the only way they wouldn't be upset, Tennessee quickly cut it to 40-28 with 15:41 remaining in the second half. The Vols have played so well this season due to a variety of factors, but SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht is perhaps the main reason for their success. His two makes from behind the arc in this run helped switch the momentum a bit, but then Mississippi State forward D.J. Jeffries turned it up a gear defensively.
Jeffries primarily guarded Knecht in the first half and he scored just five points on 2-of-8 shooting (1-of-4 from deep). Those early threes in the second half ended up being Knecht's final conversions from the field as he ended the game with 14 points (averages 25.5 vs. SEC) on 4-of-17 shooting, including 2-of-9 from downtown and three turnovers.
Although they had nine more offensive rebounds and relatively the same amount of turnovers and steals as Mississippi State, Tennessee shot 19-of-62 from the field, including 8-of-33 from deep.
Mississippi State will play the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between 4-seeded Auburn and 5-seeded South Carolina in the semifinal round on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT.
