Complete Team Effort Vaults Men’s Hoops Past Ole Miss, 66-56

Saturday, February 20

Oxford, Miss.

5:00 PM

Mississippi State

12-11,6-8SEC

Ole Miss

12-9,7-7SEC

Mississippi St.

Ole Miss

Complete Team Effort Vaults Men’s Hoops Past Ole Miss, 66-56

February 20, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Quotes (PDF)Video: Coach Howland Presser VIDEO: Student-Athletes Presser

by Josie Hutton, Student Assistant/Communications

OXFORD, Mississippi – Dynamic performances courtesy of its four captains, Abdul Ado, Iverson Molinar, Tolu Smith and D.J. Stewart Jr., fueled a total team effort on both ends of the floor as the Mississippi State men's basketball team played a complete 40 minutes to bounce back in a big way en route to a wire-to-wire 66-56 victory over the Rebels on Saturday from the Pavilion at Ole Miss.

The Bulldogs (12-11, 6-8 SEC) ended Ole Miss' (12-9, 7-7 SEC) SEC-best four-game winning streak, which featured a pair of ranked home victories over No. 11 Tennessee and No. 10 Missouri earlier in February. In the process, Mississippi State has won two of its last three decisions in Oxford.

The four captains combined for 54 of State's 66 points with Molinar, Tolu Smith and Stewart Jr. each providing double figures. The Bulldogs improved to 10-0 this season when each member of the SEC's second-leading scoring trio scores at least 10 points.

Mississippi State knocked down 11 of its first 17 field goals to build a 12-point advantage during the game's first 12 minutes. The Bulldogs got back their roots by connecting on 18 of their 25 baskets in the paint en route to a 36-24 advantage.

D.J. Stewart Jr. fired in 16 points and handed out a career-best six assists coupled with four rebounds, two steals and a block. He also spent a majority of his time on the defensive end and locked up Ole Miss' top scorer, Devontae Shuler, to four points on a 1-of-15 shooting clip. The 16 points on the offensive end enabled Stewart Jr. to reach double figures for the 19th time this season.

After being a game time decision due to injury, Molinar turned in a gritty performance with 12 of his game-leading 17 points in the second half. He was 5-of-8 from the floor and drained both of his three-pointers during the second 20 minutes. Molinar has notched double figures in 18 of his 20 outings and during 22 of his 28 career starts.

Tolu Smith attacked with 12 points on identical 4-of-6 shooting clips from the field and at the free throw line. He tacked on six rebounds, two assists and one steal. Smith claimed his 16th game with double digit points for the Maroon and White.

Making his 120th career start which pushed him into sole possession of second place, Abdul Ado came away with nine points, seven rebounds and a block.
Off the bench, Deivon Smith was State's top performer with a solid all-around effort of six points, two assists, two steals and two rebounds.

Javian Davis and Derek Fountain rounded out the scoring for the Bulldogs. Davis tacked on four points for the Bulldogs, and Fountain finished with two points, three assists and two rebounds. With Fountain on the floor, Mississippi State held a +19 advantage.

For the contest, the Bulldogs converted on 25-of-49 shots (51.0 percent), 2-of-9 of their three-point attempts (22.2 percent) and sank 14-of-18 at the foul line (77.8 percent).

A strong defensive performance forced Ole Miss into a 21-for-55 shooting efforts (38.2 percent), a 5-of-19 clip from beyond the three-point arc (26.3 percent) and a 9-of-11 clip at the free throw line (81.8 percent).

The Rebels were led by K.J. Buffen's 13 points and six points. Shuler and Romello White entered the contest averaging 27.3 points per game and were limited to a combined seven points.

FROM THE BENCH – COACH HOWLAND
"I thought we played really good defense. I thought we set the tone early in the game, came out and really did a good job defensively as a team. I thought there were some great individual efforts as well. I thought D.J. Stewart Jr.'s defense, being matched up on Devontae Shuler for most of the game, was really phenomenal. Shuler, who is an all-league player in our conference this year without a doubt, was 1-for-15 shooting, and D.J. deserves a lot of credit for that."

"He [Stewart Jr.] had a lot of help from his teammates. I thought Abdul Ado was great plugging up things tonight. He did a really good job defending their big inside. Over the last four games, Romello White had averaged 17 points per game, and he ended with six tonight. We had some really good defensive efforts against a couple of their better players."

"I was really proud of Iverson Molinar. I thought our freshmen Derek Fountain and Deivon Smith did phenomenal jobs. When you look at the plus-minus in this game, Derek's stats don't show that he had a great game, but yet he had the best plus-minus on the team when he was in the game. We were up 19 when he was in the game. I thought Deivon was really good. He got in foul trouble in the first half, but I thought he handled the pressure. He had a great cut on the sideline out of bounds play for a dunk that put us back up by 10 [coming out of the under four minute media timeout during the second half]. That was a huge play."

"We talked about handling the adversity of a game, you are always going to have that. I actually visited with Iverson specifically about that after practice Thursday. We have to have the resolve that we showed today. I was really proud of him for that. That's a great point that you brought up because that was something we focused on this week and did a good job with."

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – ABDUL ADO
"Before the game today, we sat down and talked about it. I let them know that every game matters, but this game was the most important game of the year. It's always the most important. Every time we play Ole Miss, it's a pride thing for me … We want to come out and put our stamp there that we're the best team in the state. You have to give them credit though. They play hard, and they are a good team. They just beat Tennessee. This is a great win for us. I can't really explain it to you. This was personal, and I'm excited for the team. I can't tell you how proud I am of these guys."

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – IVERSON MOLINAR
"I feel the coaches did a pretty good job of making us keep pushing. I feel like we did a pretty good job of that too as players. We actually never gave up, and we kept the same energy. It's not a good situation to be in by having that losing streak. So, we took that fight inside of us to keep improving in the areas that we made mistakes in during the past games. I feel like what we did a pretty good job of doing that."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
D.J. Stewart Jr. got the Bulldogs into a steady offensive rhythm with three assists on State's first three buckets. He found Abdul Ado for a one-hand jam, connected with Tolu Smith for a dunk and Tolu Smith again for a reverse layup to make it 6-2 with 16:52 remaining.

Up 15-9 at the 11:54 mark, State secured nine of the next 12 points to double its lead. Javian Davis ignited the flurry with back-to-back baskets courtesy of a midrange jumper and a jump hook in the lane.

Deivon Smith turned defense into offense with a steal and layup which ended up being an old-school three-point play. Then, Iverson Molinar buried a floater on the right baseline to stretch the advantage to 24-12 with 8:04 left.

Ole Miss made a push and trimmed the halftime score to 31-25 as Jarkel Joiner went coast-to-coast for a bucket to beat the buzzer.

Ahead 31-27 with 18:45 to go, Stewart Jr. delivered a critical block against Joiner on a one-on-one play in transition. Stewart Jr. collected the rebound and made a beautiful outlet pass to Molinar in transition who drained a floater to stretch the lead back to six.

On the ensuing possession, Stewart Jr. stole the ball from Devontae Shuler and found Molinar for a right wing triple to push the State spread back to nine, 36-27, with 18:08 to go.

The Bulldogs took their largest lead at 55-40 on a pair of Tolu Smith free throws with 6:39 on the clock.

Ole Miss made a final rally and pulled within nine points, 57-48. After the final media timeout with 3:20 to play, Derek Fountain found a cutting Deivon Smith for a two-handed dunk off a sidelines inbounds play to vault Mississippi State back ahead by double digits.

Ado put the finishing touches on the 66-56 triumph with a two-handed flush from Fountain inside the closing 35 seconds.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs wrap up their 2020-21 home slate with a pair of return games versus South Carolina (Wednesday) and No. 8 Alabama (Saturday). Tip time for the South Carolina game is on-tap for 6 p.m. CT from Humphrey Coliseum, televised by SEC Network and available online courtesy of the Watch ESPN app.

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.