Mississippi State
14-8,2-7SEC
South Carolina
8-14,1-8SEC
Moore Leads Dawgs To Victory At South Carolina
January 31, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
Bulldog guard scores career-high 22 points.
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Behind a standout performance from guard Shakeel Moore, Mississippi State won its second-straight game on Tuesday night as the Bulldogs recorded a 66-51 win over South Carolina at Colonial Life Arena.
Moore scored a career-best 22 points to help MSU to a victory that helped build upon the momentum established with last Saturday's triumph over then-No. 11 TCU.
"This feels great," Moore said. "Our team continues to stick together and fight together."
Moore made nine of his 11 shots, including a 2-for-4 night from three-point range. He also chipped in with four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Two other Bulldogs scored in double-figures as Tolu Smith totaled 15 points while Tyler Stevenson added 12 off the bench. Moore, Smith and Stevenson all shot over 60 percent or better individually as MSU collectively had its highest single-game field goal percentage of the year at 52.9 percent.
However, it was perhaps State's defense that made the biggest difference. South Carolina shot only 34 percent as a team and just when it looked like the Gamecocks were ready to make a run at State, the Bulldogs had none of it.
MSU closed the first half on an 11-4 run and took a 32-26 lead into the intermission. After halftime, Moore, Dashawn Davis and Smith all had buckets in the first two-plus minutes to stretch the State advantage to 12 points.
That's when South Carolina answered with a pair of 3-pointers that cut the Bulldogs' lead in half. In response, MSU shifted to a 1-3-1 zone defense that helped turn the tide back in its favor.
"[Assistant coach James Miller] was actually the one that suggested [the 1-3-1] and he does the matchups so he's in tune with exactly who the other team has on the floor all the time," State head coach Chris Jans explained. "He just said, 'Hey, this would be a good time.' I trust him and fired away. We went back-to-back possessions with it. [South Carolina] didn't have some of their best shooters in the game and it really worked out for us…It really, really helped us at a key moment in the game."
Sparked by its defense, soon, State was in control. With 12:52 left on the clock, the Bulldogs led 48-34. They'd stretch that lead to as much as 20 before settling for the 15-point victory and second consecutive win.
MSU will look to make it three in a row this Saturday. That's when the Bulldogs host Missouri in a 5 p.m. game at Humphrey Coliseum.
It's another big matchup, as they all tend to be this time of year. But it's one Mississippi State now enters with loads of confidence.
"We knew this one [against South Carolina] we had to get," Jans said. "We needed to get a road win. It was against a team that we felt like we matched up with pretty well and we wanted to carry that momentum into Saturday when we're going to play a really, really good and really talented and well-coached Missouri team that has all the numbers. They've got all the [positive] metrics…In order for us to have that momentum and get a streak going we obviously had to take care of this road win and I'm happy for our guys."
