Postgame Notes: MSU vs. North Alabama

TEAM NOTES

Mississippi State won its third straight game to improve to 3-0 for the third consecutive season and dialed up an 81-54 victory over North Alabama. The Bulldogs have won their opening three outings by an average of 22.0 points per contest.
Ahead 38-35 at the 17:36 mark, State ripped off 10 straight points and outscored the Lions by a 43-19 margin the rest of the way. The Bulldogs forced North Alabama to misfire on 22 of its last 28 shot attempts.
State has won all five meetings with the Lions and improved to 21-1 overall against current members of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
The Maroon and White remained undefeated at Humphrey Coliseum versus non-conference opponents and moved its record to 9-0 with Coach Jans at the helm.
State has won seven of the nine outings by 10+ points and have posted an average margin of victory of 22.1 points per game.
Overall, the Bulldogs have won 15 of 17 games against non-conference opponents and have held 14 of those 17 opponents to 60 points or less under Coach Jans.
In 74 halves dating back to last season, State has limited the opposition to under a 35 percent shooting clip 27 times (36.5 percent).
Over his eight-year coaching career, Coach Jans' teams have amassed a 70-9 record on its home floor, which tabulates to an impressive .886 winning percentage.
Mississippi State drained seven treys during tonight's game and have knocked down 30 triples in its first three games this season. The 30 three-pointers ties the 2008-09 squad for the most in program history over the first three games of a season.
The Bulldogs hit 22 of their 34 baskets on the interior and outscored the Lions by a 44-30 margin in paint points.
Mississippi State dialed up 12 steals, which ties for the 5th most, by a Jans coached team. The Bulldogs have registered 10+ steals on 14 occasions in two seasons under Jans.
The Maroon and White scored 40 of the game's 54 points off the bench. Over the last two games, State has outscored its opponents 84-31 in bench points.
For the game, Mississippi State was 32-of-68 from the field (47.1 percent). The Bulldogs were 7-of-26 on their three-point attempts (26.9 percent) and were 10-of-15 at the charity stripe (66.7 percent)
Conversely, North Alabama hit on 21-of-63 of its shot attempts (33.9) followed by a 4-of-14 clip on treys (28.6 percent) and an 8-of-13 mark on free throws (61.5 percent).

PLAYER NOTES

Jimmy Bell Jr.

Started his 37th consecutive game over the last two seasons between Mississippi State and West Virginia.
Overall, Bell Jr. has started in 101 of 118 career games.
Dominated the paint with a season's best 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and hauled down a career-high 14 rebounds for his first double-double in Maroon and White.
Marked his third overall double-double and his 9th career game in double figures.
The 14 points were his fourth-best scoring output of his career, while the 14 rebounds were his fourth effort of 10+ rebounds.
Collected a career-high tying three blocks for the second straight game in addition to his 6th career game of 2+ blocks.
Finished with a plus-minus ratio of +18 which was second-best on the team.

D.J. Jeffries

Started 68 of 71 career games at State.
Tacked on eight points sparked by a pair of three-pointers and tucked away four rebounds.
Marked his 29th career game with 2+ three's.
Added three steals which was his 27th career effort with 2+ steals.

Cameron Matthews

Started 36 of the team's 37 games over the last two seasons.
Stuffed the stat line with six points, six rebounds, a career-high equaling five steals and a season's best four assists.
Notched 27 of his 45 games with 2+ assists, 24 of his 42 games with 5+ rebounds and 19 of his 38 games with 2+ steals over the last two seasons.
All five of his steals came during the opening half.

Dashawn Davis

Started 53 of his 61 games between Mississippi State and Oregon State over the last three seasons.
Dished out 4 assists for the second straight game.

Trey Fort

Started his third consecutive game at State to open 2023-24.
Added nine points just missing out on double figures for the third straight game.
Nine of his 12 field goals have come from behind the arc.

Bench

Josh Hubbard fired in 12 points to record back-to-back games with double-digit points.
Secured his first career outing with multiple steals.
Tabulated a team-leading +19 in the plus-minus department.
Nine of Hubbard's 13 field goals have been three-pointers during his first three games.
Shakeel Moore made his season debut with a solid effort of eight points, two assists and a steal over 14 minutes of action. He made three of his four shot attempts.
Andrew Taylor chipped in a season's best nine points on 4-of-7 from the floor to go along with three assists and three rebounds.
Adrian Myers sank his first career field goal, a three-pointer, during the game's last minute.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Notes: MSU vs. North Alabama

Players Mentioned

Jimmy Bell Jr.

Dashawn Davis

Trey Fort

Josh Hubbard

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Shakeel Moore

Adrian Myers

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