Postgame Notes: MSU vs. Jackson State

TEAM NOTES

Mississippi State returned to the capital city of Jackson and to the Mississippi Coliseum for the eighth time during the last nine seasons and emerged with a 69-59 victory over Jackson State.
The Bulldogs have won all seven meetings against Jackson State which includes two over the last three seasons. SIx of the seven wins over the Tigers have come by 10-plus points.
State 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 10-0 start marked the fifth time in program history that State has won its opening 10 games, and the program's best since a 13-0 mark to begin 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 Kentucky's John Calipari (19-0, 2009-10) and Tennessee's Jerry Green (10-0, 1997-98) as the only three SEC coaches during the shot clock era since 1985-86 to start their first seasons with at least 10 straight victories.
Jans is the second basketball coach at State to win his opening 10 contests. He is joined by E.C. Hayes, who completed the 1911-12 season at 9-0 and won his first game of the 1912-13 campaign.
Facing an early 16-6 hole at the 10:25 mark of the first half, Mississippi State scored 25 of the stanza's last 35 points to carry a 31-36 advantage into the halftime break.
Down 50-47 with 10:27 remaining in the game, the Bulldogs once again relied on a strong close and a 22-9 spurt to close the contest.
For the second consecutive game, four players registered double figures for the Maroon and White headed by a season-high tying 15 points from D.J. Jeffries and a career-best 10 points courtesy of KeShawn Murphy.
Mississippi State's suffocating defense limited its 10th consecutive opponent to under 60 points and forced Jackson State into 20 turnovers.
The 50.7 points per game average is a program-low thru 10 games going back to at least the 1955-56 season, which was Babe McCarthy's first season at State.
The 20 turnovers matched a season's best for an opponent as the Bulldogs forced Texas A&M Corpus Christi into 21 miscues during the season opener.
The Maroon and White converted those turnovers into points and piled up a 21-11 edge in points off turnovers.
As a team, the Bulldogs connected on 23-of-49 from the floor (46.9 percent), 8-of-26 from three-point territory (30.8 percent) and 15-20 from the free throw line (75.0 percent).
Conversely, Jackson State was 23-for-50 on its shot attempts (46.0 percent), drained 7-of-18 of its three's (38.9 percent) and were 6-of-11 at the charity stripe (54.5 percent).
For the second consecutive contest, State dominated in transition scoring 24 of the game's 30 fastbreak points. The 24 fastbreak points were a season-high for the Bulldogs.

PLAYER NOTES

D.J. Jeffries

Led the Bulldogs with a team-leading and season-high tying 15 points coupled with five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Fired in 10 of his 15 points came during the second half.
Pumped home double figures for the fifth consecutive game, for the eighth time over his last nine outings and for the 50th time during his career.
Mississippi State is 19-5, while State and Memphis are a combined 40-10 when Jeffries scores in double figures.
Pulled within 113 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.
Grabbed 5+ rebounds for the 6th time in 2022-23 and 34th occasion over his career.
Added 3+ assists in back-to-back contests and for the 22nd time in his career.
Came up with multiple steals for the 2nd time this season and for 18th time in his career.

Tolu Smith

Started 60 of his 61 career outings at MSU.
Provided 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and a block.
Secured double-digit points in five consecutive games, nine of 10 contests this season, 16 of his last 17 outings since 02/23/2022 and 45 of his 61 MSU appearances.
Dished out three assists for his 5th multi-assist game of 2022-23 and 22nd time over his career.
Sits 50 points shy of eclipsing the 1,000-point mark in his career.

Cameron Matthews

Made his 10th start of the season after starting 10 total games as a freshmen in 2020-21 and 10 total games as a sophomore in 2021-22.
Matched his career-high with five assists, set a new career mark with five steals.
Distributed multiple assists during eight of 10 games this season and notched his 26th career outings with 2+ assists.
Managed 2+ steals five times in 2022-23 and for the 24th career occasion.

Eric Reed Jr.

Started 61 of his 67 career outings between MSU and Southeast Missouri.
Contributed 11 of his 13 points sparked by equaling his season's best with a trio of treys during the second half.
The 13 points marked his second-highest scoring output in Maroon and White.
Drained multiple treys for the 39th time in his career.
Tallied multiple steals for the second time over his last three outings.

Dashawn Davis

Managed seven points, three assist and a steal.
Handed out 2+ assists five of his seven appearances this season.
Also recorded a steal in all seven games.

Bench

KeShawn Murphy ripped off seven of his career-high 10 points in the opening half.
Canned multiple three-pointers for the first time in his career.
Also contributed three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
The 2nd time in 2022-23 Murphy had multiple assists and multiple steals.
Shakeel Moore and Jamel Horton Jr. rounded out the scoring with five and four points, respectively, for the Maroon and White.
Moore recorded a pair of blocks for the first time this season.
Tyler Stevenson secured a block in his fourth straight game.

Postgame Notes: MSU vs. Jackson State

Players Mentioned

Dashawn Davis

Jamel Horton Jr.

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Shakeel Moore

KeShawn Murphy

Eric Reed Jr.

Tolu Smith III

Tyler Stevenson

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Notes: MSU vs. Jackson State

Players Mentioned

Dashawn Davis

Jamel Horton Jr.

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Shakeel Moore

KeShawn Murphy

Eric Reed Jr.

Tolu Smith III

Tyler Stevenson

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