Men’s Hoops Battles Past Radford, 77-68

Wednesday, December 18

Starkville

7:00 PM

Mississippi State

8-2

Radford

3-7

Radford

Mississippi State

Photo by: Austin Perryman/MSU Athletics

Men’s Hoops Battles Past Radford, 77-68

December 18, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score VIDEO: Highlights VIDEO: Postgame Presser Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery Postgame Quotes (PDF)

by Mikaela Elizondo, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – Abdul Ado turned in a season-high scoring output for the third consecutive game and his first double-double since his freshman season to lift the Mississippi State men's basketball team to a 77-68 win over Radford on Wednesday at Humphrey Coliseum.

Ado rattled home a season's best 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting effort from the floor and a 7-for-9 clip at the foul line. He hauled down a season-high 12 rebounds, one shy of his career-best.

It marked Ado's first double-double since a 10-point, 11-rebound effort versus No. 22 Auburn on Jan. 13, 2018. He also registered 10-plus points during consecutive games going back to road games against Missouri and Vanderbilt on Feb. 10 and Feb. 14, 2018.

Reggie Perry and Robert Woodard II nearly compiled double-doubles of their own. Perry contributed a season-high tying 18 points and three blocks whereas Woodard II provided 17 points, nine rebounds and four steals. The Perry-Woodard II combo also added nine rebounds apiece to lead the Bulldogs to a 37-26 rebounding advantage over Radford (3-7).

Mississippi State (8-2) has won three of its four games over defending conference champions from a season ago and erased a halftime deficit for the 17th time in the Ben Howland era.

D.J. Stewart Jr. filled the box score with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists in his second career start. He scored nine of his 10 points during the opening 7:40 of the contest.

Tyson Carter turned in nine points and handed out four assists. The nine points enabled him to surpass Larry Fry (1973-74-75) into 34th place on the program's scoring list.

KeyShawn Feazell and Iverson Molinar tacked on three points each. Feazell grabbed three rebounds, while Molinar handed out two assists and recorded two key blocks.

For the contest, MSU hit 24-of-52 shots from the field (46.2 percent), 4-of-14 shots from three-point range (28.6 percent) and 25-of-30 shots from the foul line (83.3 percent). The 25 free throws made were a season's best.

The Bulldogs had 10 assists and 11 turnovers, while the Highlanders had 15 assists and 12 turnovers.
Mississippi State piled up 32 of the game's 44 points in the paint and held a 26-16 edge in second-chance points.

Radford shot 23-of-54 overall (42.6 percent), 15-of-32 on three-pointers (46.9 percent) and 7-of-12 at the charity stripe (58.3 percent). The Highlanders received 15 points and seven assists from Carlik Jones and 12 points courtesy of Donald Hicks.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"That was a tough one. Obviously, their three-point shooting was in the first half was really a problem for us. They were 11-for-17. It felt like we were playing the Houston Rockets, everything was a three. We changed how we were going to play ball screens the second half. I thought it helped us to make it a little harder on their guards. They couldn't read as easily. They were only 4-of-15 the second half. Credit to our defense to hold them to 30.8 percent in the second half. I thought we did a better job of getting the ball inside. Again, we are playing Radford because they are a good team. They're picked to win their league. They beat Notre Dame and Texas on the road last year and beat Northwestern on the road this year. We knew this was going to be a difficult game."

"I thought we did a really good job of making our foul shots today, 25-for-30 and 83.3 percent, including Abdul [Ado] going 7-for-9 and making seven in a row. I'm really proud of him, and his confidence is just growing offensively. To put together another double-double game like this is big. He's got three good games rolling for him now, in a row."

"Robert [Woodard II] made a three, and I liked KeyShawn's [Feazell] three. It was a one-point game when he made that, and it put us up four points. That was a huge shot. I told him, when he had been in there previously and turned down a wide-open three in the same exact spot. I believe in the same set. I said, 'You've got to shoot that, you're wide open.' Then, he had no hesitation. I was so happy for him, because he has put so much work in."

"I thought Iverson's [Molinar] block late in the game on the slip of the screen – he came from the weak side. He had two blocks today, both were huge for us. I thought we did a good job, honestly, on jumps. Again, it was hard to scout 14, [Chryee Walker]. He can really shoot the ball. He started with two three's that were big. We had some defensive breakdowns. We'll watch this tape tomorrow and learn from it."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Mississippi State raced out to a five-point lead in the opening 1:06 of the contest and extended their advantage to 10-3 at the 17:26 mark after a Robert Woodard II steal and shot from beyond the arc.

Radford relied on a 14-1 run over a 3:37 span highlighted by four treys to snatch a 28-19 advantage with 8:23 remaining in the first half.

State grabbed the next six points to pull back within three points, but the Highlanders three-point shooting stayed hot as they added nine more points on three's to extend their lead back out to 37-29 at the 3:42 mark.

The Bulldogs used seven free throws to ignite a rally and cut Radford's lead to one. Carlik Jones knocked down a trey at the buzzer to give Radford a 42-38 lead heading into the locker room.

State connected on 12 of its 24 shots during the first half, fueled by 4-of-5 shooting courtesy of D.J. Stewart Jr.

Abdul Ado opened the half with a pair of layups to even the game at 42-42. The two teams alternated leads and played within three points of each other for the next 13:02.

Down 60-57 at the 7:39 mark, State ripped off 16 of the next 18 points to turn a three-point deficit into a 13-point lead with 48 seconds remaining in the contest.

The flurry was highlighted by a KeyShawn Feazell trey at the 4:35 mark, and MSU continued its strong play via consecutive buckets from Woodard II. The Highlanders trimmed to the final margin back to single digits on a Donald Hicks trey inside the final minute.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State wraps up a stretch of three games over nine-day span with its annual trip to the capital city. The Bulldogs will face defending WAC champion New Mexico State on Sunday at Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Tip time is slated for 2 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by SEC Network and carried only courtesy of the Watch ESPN platform.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by searching 'HailStateMBK' on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.