Mississippi State
9-0,0-0SEC
Minnesota
4-6,0-2Big Ten
Shak Shines As State Stays Unbeaten
December 11, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
Shakeel Moore’s work ethic pays off in road win for the Dawgs.
MINNEAPOLIS – The last few weeks when no one was watching, Shakeel Moore was working. On Sunday night, in No. 23 Mississippi State's first true road game of the season at Minnesota, the Bulldog guard reaped the reward for his extra efforts.
Moore scored a season-high 17 points and knocked down several big shots to help lead MSU to a 69-51 victory over the Golden Gophers at Williams Arena. It was the first time in more than a month that Moore scored in double figures, last doing so in the season opener all the way back on November 7.
"It felt amazing," Moore said of his performance. "I've put in so much time and effort and work into building my confidence. For it to come out and play a part in [Sunday's] game, it felt really good."
Moore shot 7-of-9 from the field and sported a 3-for-4 mark from three-point range. Prior to Sunday, Moore had missed his last 11 3-pointers over the course of the previous three games, scoring just 10 total points in that span.
In the meantime, he was still contributing with strong defense and a knack for creating offense for others, however Moore knew he could improve his overall game if he could rediscover his shooting stroke. He wasn't going to sit back and just hope for it to come either.
Moore got in work before and after practice. He was relentless in his pursuit to get better.
"Usually guys, when they get in a slump, they tend to be not levelheaded and things like that, but Shak, he brought the energy every day," center Tolu Smith said.
Then came Sunday. There Moore was right in the middle of State's victory.
"Really happy for Shak," head coach Chris Jans said of Moore. "I get staff members telling me all the time how much unrequired work he's been putting in on his own. He's in the gym getting up extra shots. Even when he wasn't shooting really well, it's really easy to have an attitude of, 'It's not helping, so why should I continue to work?' From the sounds of it, that's not been his approach. That's obviously great to see. More importantly, happy for our team, but for him individually to be rewarded with that, it should grow his confidence going forward."
Moore's showing helped the Bulldogs improve to 9-0. MSU is one of only seven undefeated teams left in college basketball.
And while Moore's play was perhaps the most feel-good development of Sunday's action, may it not be lost his teammates kept right on doing what they've been doing all year to fuel State's red-hot start.
The Dawgs continued their defensive dominance. No MSU opponent has scored more than 55 points in a game this year.
Smith kept right on excelling and proving to be one of the country's best players. He scored a team-best 20 points and also had five rebounds and a pair of blocks.
D.J. Jeffries also had another big night. He just missed out on a triple-double as he scored 10 points to go along with eight boards and seven assists.
"D.J. was hooping," Smith said with a smile.
Cameron Matthews had a strong showing as well, scoring 11 points, bringing down six rebounds and blocking three shots.
Mississippi State led 32-24 at halftime. Trailing 24-22 with 3:17 left before the intermission, the Dawgs closed the first half on a 10-0 run to seize control. Moore set the stage for the surge with a key 3-pointer that was followed by a dunk off a steal less than 30 seconds later.
State led by double figures for most of the second half. Minnesota was able to close the gap to nine with 9:05 remaining, but fittingly for this night, Moore soon delivered again with a trey to push MSU's lead to 12. The Gophers never got closer than 10 again.
It was a successful night on so many levels for the Dawgs. It was the first true road triumph of the season. It was the first time all year that four or more MSU players scored 10 or more points. It was another night full of incredible defensive urgency and intensity. And it was a night Moore reestablished himself as the scoring weapon for State he's known all along he could be. He simply had to work for it.
"Just being a friend – not even just a teammate – seeing him succeed was a great feeling for myself because I've seen him put the reps in," Smith said of Moore. "I've been telling him every day, 'You're going to make shots. Just trust me.' He did that [Sunday]."
