Four Takeaways from Mississippi State's Win Over Georgia
The Mississippi State men's basketball team defeated Georgia 75-62 on Wednesday night. This victory ended Mississippi State's two-game skid and notched its record up to 15-8 (4-6 SEC). Additionally, this evened up the all-time battle of the Bulldogs series at 59 apiece.
This matchup had many factors that influenced the outcome in Starkville, Miss. Here are four takeaways:
Scoring Distribution
Throughout the season, Mississippi State has often spread the wealth in the scoring department as the highest scorer typically doesn't record many more points than the lowest. Wednesday night was no different as four players finished in the double digits.
Freshman phenom guard Josh Hubbard entered the evening eighth among Division I freshmen in points per game with 14.8. He started on the right foot with 11 points in the first half and appeared to be headed for another stellar game, but finished the game with a total of 13 on 3-of-8 from behind the arc.
Fellow guard Shakeel Moore also stood out in the first half with eight points on 3-of-7 from the field, but he too struggled in the second and finished the game with 11 points.
While the guards dazzled in the first half, the forwards took over in the second. Senior big man Tolu Smith III has led Mississippi State in points per game since his return from injury on Dec. 31. He exploded in the final 20 minutes to help lead his team pull away from Georgia as he ended the game with a team-high 19 points.
Forward Keshawn Murphy also landed a spot in the double-digits club with 10 points off the bench on 4-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-4 from deep. This was one of his better games of the season as he also played four more minutes than his average night.
Forward Cameron Matthews just missed the cut with nine points on a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and charity stripe. Nevertheless, the versatile senior, who's top-3 on the team in every major stat category, filled the stat sheet once again with 11 rebounds (four offensive), four assists, four blocks and three steals.
Paint Presence on Both Ends
Mississippi State entered Wednesday night's game without D.J. Jeffries, who suffered a knee injury against Alabama. The forward has excelled in the painted area both offensively and defensively throughout the season, but the rest of the team did an excellent job in filling his role against Georgia.
Georgia rarely drove to the paint due to pressure and lack of gaps on the inside, so they often resorted to shooting from deep. Its 36.4 percent shooting from that area was fairly efficient, but Mississippi State was able to keep up the pace with 32.1 percent. When it came to scoring in the paint, Mississippi State dominated with 28 points compared to Georgia's 14.
As previously stated, Mississippi State had a plethora of scorers and many of their buckets were down low. Smith was a force to be reckoned with in this area as practically all of his 8-of-10 makes were from there.
Mississippi State also won the battle off the glass 32-26 with Matthews and Smith combining for 23. Georgia also struggled in the blocks department as they knocked one away compared to Mississippi State's six (Matthews had four and guard Shawn Jones Jr. had two).
Improvement at the Charity Stripe
"Free throw woes" were a main takeaway for practically every game over the past couple of months. Mississippi State's struggles from the line have been detrimental to the outcomes of its games and have even been a main reason for some losses.
Hubbard scored the first points of Wednesday's contest after sinking two free throws. The rest of the team followed the freshman's good start from the line for the rest of the game as the SEC's worst free throw shooting team converted on 16-of-19 attempts. This is really something to be proud of.
Impact of Assist and Turnover Differential
In addition to spreading the wealth in the scoring department Mississippi State's constant ball movement created a ton of assists. Its team chemistry seemed to increase on every possession because of the assists, which helped Mississippi State pull away. The disparaging 19-6 margin in that stat category is evidence of that.
Although it was close, Mississippi State also won the turnover battle by three and scored four more points off of them than Georgia. One number that stands out from these momentum shifters is Georgia's amount of time with the lead for the entire game—one minute and seven seconds.
