Postgame Notes: MSU vs. Utah

TEAM NOTES

For the second consecutive games, Mississippi State battled its way through a heavily contested back-and-forth affair before the Bulldogs emerged with a 52-49 victory over Utah to capture the Fort Myers Tip-Off Championship Game.
State has won both meetings with the Runnin' Utes on the hardwood. The lone previous meeting came during the 1995 NCAA Tournament Round of a 32, a 78-64 win for the Bulldogs where Darryl Wilson (32 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals) and Erick Dampier (21 points, 10 rebounds, 8 blocks) led the way for State.
Tonight's win enabled the Bulldogs to move to 6-0 on the young season and for the first time since 2017-18 when State won its first eight games of the season.
Prior to tonight, the last time the Maroon and White won a multi-team regular season tournament was the 2011 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City. State defeated No. 19 Texas A&M (69-60) and No. 15 Arizona (67-57) on back-to-back days.
Chris Jans became the 4th head coach in program history to win his opening six contests. He is joined on the list by E.C. Hayes (1911-12, 9-0 & 1912-13, 1-0), Jim Hatfield (1978-79, 8-0), and Rick Stansbury (1998-99, 8-0).
After allowing the game's first basket, the Bulldogs ripped off eight consecutive points capped by a Tolu Smith fastbreak dunk courtesy of Cameron Matthews.
State would lead by as many as eight points (20-12 and 22-14) during the first half and took a 25-21 lead into the locker room. The Bulldogs pressured Utah into 11 first-half turnovers.
Utah used an 11-0 spurt early in the second half to turn a 28-21 deficit into a 32-28 advantage. The Utes went up by as five, 40-35, midway through the second 20 minutes.
Trailing 45-42 at the 4:37 mark, State rallied with a 10-4 flurry to close the contest. Dashawn Davis and Tolu Smith brought the Bulldogs to the winner's circle accounting for all 10 points fueled by two Davis triples.
The Maroon and White forced Utah to misfire on eight of its nine field goal attempts headed by its final four shots.
As a team, the Bulldogs connected on 17-of-67 from the floor (25.4 percent), 9-of-38 from three-point land (23.7 percent) and 9-of-16 from the free throw line (56.3 percent)
Defensively, State limited the Utes to a 17-of-52 shooting clip (32.7 percent), a 4-19 mark from three-point territory (21.1 percent) and an 11-of-18 ratio at the charity stripe (61.1 percent)
Mississippi State's starting five amassed all 52 of the team's points. The Bulldogs hauled down a season's best 19 offensive rebounds.

PLAYER NOTES

Dashawn Davis

Paced the Bulldogs with 15 of his season-high 18 points during the second half en route to Fort Myers Tip-Off All-Tournament Team honors.
The 18 points were his third-highest scoring output of his career only behind a 31-point outburst versus No. 16 Southern Cal (02/24/22) and a 22-point outing against Colorado (02/15/22) while at Oregon State
Drained a career-best six three-pointers on nine attempts from beyond the arc.
Canned two of those triples inside the game's last 4:01.
Tallied three of his career-high tying four steals in the first half.
Contributed a season-high three rebounds and dished out two assists.

Tolu Smith

Notched Fort Myers Tip-Off All-Tournament Team and Tournament MVP accolades.
Registered his second double-double of 2022-23 and the 15th double-double for his career.
Racked up 16 points, pulled down a career-high tying 16 rebounds and added a season's best two blocks.
Marked his second consecutive game with 16 rebounds.
21 of his 32 rebounds for the tournament came on the defensive end.
Started 56 of 57 career outings at MSU.
Scored in double figures in 41 of those 57 contests.
Moves to within 119 points of 1,000 over the course of his career.

D.J. Jeffries

Pumped in 10 points sparked by a pair of three-pointers to go along with seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Notched double figures in four of his last five outings and for the 46th time in his career.
State is 15-5 when Jeffries scores in double figures. Overall, MSU and Memphis are a combined 36-10 when Jeffries accomplishes the feat.
Hit multiple treys in three of his six outings this season.
Tallied multiple blocks for the first time in 2022-23 and for the 16th time during his career.
Pulls to within 160 career points from the 1,000 barrier.

Cameron Matthews

Chipped in five points and went a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe
Managed four rebounds, a season-high tying three assists, a block and a steal.
Multiple assists in five of six games this season and for the 23rd occasion in his career.

Eric Reed Jr.

Finished the contest with a team-leading plus-minus ratio of +11.

Bench

Shakeel Moore and Will McNair Jr. combined for seven rebounds.
Moore distributed a season-high tying three assists to claim his 37th career outing with multiple dimes.
Moore extended his streak to all six games in 2022-23 and has provided at least one steal in 13 of his last 15 outings dating back to the Missouri game on 02/18/2022.

Players Mentioned

Dashawn Davis

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Will McNair Jr.

Shakeel Moore

Eric Reed Jr.

Tolu Smith III

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Notes: MSU vs. Utah

Players Mentioned

Dashawn Davis

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Will McNair Jr.

Shakeel Moore

Eric Reed Jr.

Tolu Smith III

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