Postgame Notes: No. 23 MSU at Minnesota

TEAM NOTES

Mississippi State traveled to Big Ten country for its first true road game of the 2022-23 season at Minnesota and earned the program's largest of margin of victory over a Big Ten foe with a convincing 69-51 victory over the Golden Gophers.
The Bulldogs remained as the only undefeated SEC team, one of three unbeaten Power 5 schools (Purdue, Virginia) and one of seven unblemished programs in the nation (Connecticut, New Mexico, UNLV and Utah State).
The 9-0 start for State is the program's best since its 2003-04 SEC regular season championship campaign.
Chris Jans is the only first-year coach to remain unbeaten during the 2022-23 season. He is joined by Missouri's Dennis Gates as two of seven SEC coaches to start their first season at least 9-0 in the shot clock era which dates back to 1985-86.
Jans is the second basketball coach at State to win his opening nine contests. He is joined by E.C. Hayes, who completed the 1911-12 season at 9-0.
Trailing 24-22 at the 3:17 mark of the opening stanza, Mississippi State closed the first half with a 10-0 run. The Bulldogs carried that momentum into the start of the second 20 minutes and pushed the spurt to 20 of 22 points to extend the advantage to 42-26.
State's suffocating defense limited its ninth consecutive opponent to 55 points or less. The Bulldogs are the only team over the last decade and the only SEC team during the shot clock era to accomplish the feat.
The 49.8 points per game average is a program-low thru nine games going back to at least the 1955-56 season, which was Babe McCarthy's first season at State.
As a team, the Bulldogs connected on 25-of-53 from the floor (47.2 percent), 6-of-14 from three-point territory (42.9 percent), and 13-17 from the free throw line (76.5 percent).
Conversely, Minnesota was 15-for-52 on its shot attempts (28.8 percent), drained 7-of-22 on three's (31.8 percent) and were 14-of-17 at the charity stripe (82.4 percent).
The Bulldogs locked up Minnesota to its lowest scoring output and its worst field goal percentage clip of the season.
Over 18 halves this season, the Maroon and White has allowed 25 points or fewer on eight occasions and limited the opposition to under a 30 percent shooting clip six times.
State held the Golden Gophers to one fastbreak point and scored 10 of the contest's 11 points in transition.
The Bulldogs imposed their will on the interior and sank 17 of their 25 buckets inside the paint en route to a commanding 34-14 advantage in paint points.
State won the battle on the glass for the eighth time in nine games by a 36-35 margin.

PLAYER NOTES

Tolu Smith

Started 59 of his 60 career outings at MSU.
Led the Bulldogs with 20 points, which was his second straight outing and third overall effort of 20-plus points in 2022-23.
Marked his 12th career performance of 20 or more points.
Reached double-digit points in four consecutive games, eight of nine contests this season, 15 of his last 16 outings since 02/23/2022 and 44 of his 60 MSU appearances.
Converted on all four of his second half shot attempts and was 6-of-9 from the floor.
Drained 8-of-9 at the free throw line. The eight free throws made equaled a career-high.
Sits 63 points shy of eclipsing the 1,000-point mark in his career.
Pulls to within 175 points from becoming the 6th MSU player since 2017-18 and the 42nd player overall to hit the 1K scoring plateau.
Registered multiple blocks for the second time this season and 10th time in his career.

D.J. Jeffries

Stuffed the stats sheet nearly amassing a triple-double with 10 points, eight rebounds and a MSU career-best seven assists.
Provided double figures for the fourth consecutive game, for the seventh time over his last eight outings and for the 49th occasion in his career.
Mississippi State is 18-5 when Jeffries scores in double figures.
The Bulldogs and Memphis are a combined 39-10 when Jeffries scores 10-plus points.
Marked his 33rd game with 5+ rebounds and his 8th time with 5+ assists.
Moved to within 128 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.
Logged a career-best 39 minutes and played the entire second half.

Cameron Matthews

Pumped in nine of his 11 points during the opening half.
Reached double figures for the second time in 2022-23 and for the fifth time in his career.
Tacked on six rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
His 25th career game with multiple assists and his 22nd performance with 5+ rebounds.
Notched multiple blocks for the second time this season and the seventh time in his career.

Eric Reed Jr.

Started all nine games this season and 60 of his 66 career outings between MSU and Southeast Missouri.

Dashawn Davis

Returned to action after a two-game absence due to injury.
Chipped in four points, a season's best six rebounds and handed out three assists.
Multiple dimes in four of six games in 2022-23.

Bench

The Bulldogs scored 24 of the game's 35 points off the bench.
State has outscored its opponents from the bench in eight of nine games this season.
Over the last three games, the Bulldogs are averaging 28.3 bench points.
Shakeel Moore did the heavy lifting for State with a season-high 17 points.
The 17 points were two shy of career-best and marked his highest scoring output since tallying a career-best 19 points against Detroit Mercy on 11/17/2021.
Racked up 10 of his 17 points during the second half.
Hit on 4-of-5 shooting during the second 20 minutes and was 7-of-9 overall from the floor.
Connected on a trio of three-pointers, also a season-high.
Drained multiple triples three times this season and for the 23rd occasion in his career.
Added four steals for his seventh multi-steal effort in 2022-23 and collected multiple steals in 36 of 68 career games.
Jamel Horton Jr. knocked down a trey and secured two assists.
He has distributed all 11 of his assists over his last six appearances.
Will McNair Jr. and Tyler Stevenson rounded out the scoring for State with two points each.

Postgame Notes: No. 23 MSU at Minnesota

Players Mentioned

Dashawn Davis

Jamel Horton Jr.

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Will McNair Jr.

Shakeel Moore

Eric Reed Jr.

Tolu Smith III

Tyler Stevenson

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Notes: No. 23 MSU at Minnesota

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Players Mentioned

Dashawn Davis

Jamel Horton Jr.

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Will McNair Jr.

Shakeel Moore

Eric Reed Jr.

Tolu Smith III

Tyler Stevenson

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