Mississippi State
5-0,0-0SEC
Marquette
3-2,0-0Big East
Bulldogs Pass Big Test To Remain Unbeaten
November 21, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
MSU advances to championship game of Fort Myers Tip-Off.
FORT MYERS, Fla. – For days, Chris Jans had been anxious.
Mississippi State's first-year head coach saw Monday night's game against an impressive Marquette group coming up. The Bulldogs' 4-0 start to the year did little to ease Jans' mind.
"We knew this was going to be a battle," Jans said. "I was excited to play this game. I kept telling our guys leading up to this trip, we're going to find out where we're at… We obviously had won the four games previously by decent amounts for the most part, and we needed to play a team that looked like us and had athletes like us. I didn't know how we'd play to be honest with you."
Well, for at least a night, Jans' concerns were alleviated. His Bulldogs continued a trend of playing a gritty, get-after-it style of basketball in earning a gutsy, 58-55 victory over Marquette at the Fort Myers Tip-Off. The win sends MSU into Wednesday night's 7:30 p.m. championship game of the event against Utah. It also provided further proof these Dawgs are as tough as they come.
Obstacle after obstacle was put in State's way on Monday but the Bulldogs overcame them all.
There was the hostile crowd that made the contest feel nothing like a neutral-site affair.
"Oh, it was definitely a road game," senior center Tolu Smith said.
Jans used the environment as a rallying point.
"I was talking to our guys in the huddle before the game and I was like, 'This is perfect,'" Jans recounted. "'This is us against the world. That's the way we want to have it and we're going to have to stay together.'"
Stay together, State did.
The fans inside Suncoast Credit Union Arena weren't enough to hold down the Dawgs. Neither was a Golden Eagle squad who held MSU to just 36 percent shooting from the field.
A big part of State's offensive struggles was Marquette's concerted effort to make sure Smith was limited in the scoring column.
"It seemed like there were at least two or sometimes three guys [on Smith] if he got anywhere near the paint," Jans said. "They were all in on it and it was an effective gameplan. We really struggled early against it."
But you can't keep a good Dawg down and after years of making big plays in Maroon and White, Smith once again found a way to aid his squad.
Though Smith finished with just seven points – the first time all season he hasn't totaled double figures – he set new career highs in rebounds and assists with 16 and six respectively.
"The ball wasn't falling in the hole so you've got to find a way to contribute to the game," Smith said. "Whatever it takes to win I'm going to do."
Smith's selfless mindset seems to be a hallmark of State under Jans. Group gain is the priority over any individual goal.
The Bulldogs create for others. They pick each other up.
How about 15 offensive rebounds for MSU to illustrate that point? State's success on the offensive glass led to a lopsided 12-0 advantage in second-chance points.
Or how about Dashawn Davis helping save the day for the Dawgs? After Mississippi State had led for the vast majority of the first half and the opening moments of the second period, Marquette took a lead with 11:03 to play. The Golden Eagles went up 46-45 with 4:45 left, however Davis put State back in front on a driving layup with 4:14 remaining. MSU didn't trail again.
It was an impressive moment for Davis, made all the better by how he was performing through some ankle pain. Talk about unselfish.
"If you really watched him closely, he was hobbling around there pretty good," Jans said of Davis. "He hasn't been practicing or playing, but I thought that was a big basket in the game."
Davis would have another huge bucket a couple of short minutes later when he sank a 3-pointer to put MSU up three with just over two minutes to play.
Down the stretch, it was Eric Reed, Jr. aiding Davis to make sure the Dawgs' efforts didn't go to waste. State didn't hit a shot from the field over the final 1:26, but Reed hit a trio of clutch free throws. With the pressure on, Reed delivered.
"I practice my free-throw routine every day, so it really wasn't anything," Reed said. "I had to keep my composure and keep my mindset. I just had to get my team the win."
Reed finished with an MSU-high 15 points. Davis finished with 12, the final two coming on a pair of makes of his own from the charity stripe with just three seconds remaining.
With State up by three, Marquette was able to inbound the ball and get one final halfcourt heave up before the final buzzer, but the shot was nowhere close.
When the final attempt fell harmlessly to the court, all of Jans' anxiousness could officially be put to bed, at least until Wednesday.
Now, it might not have been a perfect evening…
"Our offense is a work in progress," Jans admitted.
But despite that, the night was successful. The Dawgs Win Again. They just keep playing too hard not to and if they keep it up, Monday won't be the last time they'll pass a critical test.
