Postgame Notes: MSU vs. Arizona State

TEAM NOTES

Mississippi State opened its 2023-24 campaign with a convincing 71-56 victory over Arizona State during the second-annual Barstool Sports Invitational at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
The Bulldogs have won 10 of their last 11 season openers highlighted by both season debuts under Chris Jans by a combined 17-point margin of victory.
Coach Jans remained undefeated and has won all eight of his season openers as a NCAA Division coach. Seven of the eight victories have by 10-plus points.
State has won both of its outings at the Barstool Sports Invitational. The Bulldogs defeated Akron, 73-54, during last year's event in Philadelphia.
The Maroon and White also moved to 2-0 versus Pac-12 schools under Coach Jans. State defeated Utah, 52-49, in last year's Fort Myers Tipoff Championship Game.
The Bulldogs have dialed up wins in 13 of 15 games versus non-SEC opponents and have held 13 of those 15 opponents to 60 points or less during the Jans era.
State's 21-point halftime advantage was the program's second-largest, and the Bulldogs improved to 19-3 when leading at half under Chris Jans.
In 70 halves with Coach Jans at the helm, State has allowed 25 points or fewer on 20 occasions (28.6 percent) and limited the opposition to under a 35 percent shooting clip 25 times (35.7 percent).
Mississippi State won the battle of the boards by a 44-31 margin. The Bulldogs have cleared 10 or more rebounds than their opponents 11 times during the Coach Jans era.
The Maroon and White took control of the contest behind a 30-8 flurry over the last 11:58 of the opening half. State turned an early 10-9 deficit into a 39-18 halftime spread.
The Bulldogs were 12-of-18 shooting, while limiting the Arizona State to a 2-of-12 clip over the opening stanza's last 12 minutes.
State tallied 12 of the game's 15 points on second-chance opportunities.
As a team, the Bulldogs drained 22-of-55 from the floor (40.0 percent), 10-of-26 from beyond the three-point line (38.5 percent) and 17-of-22 at the foul line (77.3 percent)
The 10 treys were a program-best under Coach Jans.
Conversely, Arizona State was 17-of-53 on its field goal attempts (32.1 percent), hit 5-of-21 on its triples (23.8 percent) and were 17-of-26 at the charity stripe (65.4 percent).

PLAYER NOTES

Jimmy Bell Jr.

Started his 35th consecutive game over the last two seasons.
Marked his first career game at State.
Overall, Bell Jr. has started in 99 of 116 career games.
Nearly corralled a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
His 8th career outing of double-digit points, and his 25th performance with 5+ rebounds.
Turned in a 5-of-6 effort from the field and a 3-of-4 mark at the foul line.

Dashawn Davis

Started 51 of his 59 games between Mississippi State and Oregon State.
Notched 10 points en route to his 26th career game in double figures.

Trey Fort

Exploded for a team-high 21 points in a memorable debut where he earned the starting nod.
Notched 14 of the 21 points during the first half.
Was 6-of-12 from the floor fueled by five treys and a 4-of-5 mark at the line.
The 21 points are the most scored by a MSU player during a season opener since Tyson Carter secured 23 points against Florida International in 2019-20.

D.J. Jeffries

Started 66 of 69 career games at State.
Finished the game with a team-best +25 plus-minus rating.
Recorded nine rebounds which his 54th career game of 5+ rebounds.
Dished out two assists which marked his 60th career game with 2+ assists.

Cameron Matthews

Started 34 of the team's 35 games over the last two seasons.
Stuffed the stats sheet with eight points, nine rebounds and three steals.
The three steals moved his career total to 122 which allowed Matthews to move into a tie for 16th place on the program's all-time list with Greg Lockhart (1986-87-88-89).
Grabbed 5+ rebounds for the 41st time during his career.
Recorded multiple steals for the 37th time in his career.

Bench

Shawn Jones Jr. chipped in eight points, all coming during the second half.
Sank 3-of-4 from the floor ignited by two trifectas.
Gai Chol, Josh Hubbard and Jaquan Scott joined Fort by each scoring their first points at the NCAA Division I level.
Hubbard canned a pair of three-pointers for six points, while Chol and Scott added baskets of their own.
Andrew Taylor provided three assists, three rebounds and a steal in his State opening act.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Notes: MSU vs. Arizona State

Players Mentioned

Jimmy Bell Jr.

Gai Chol

Dashawn Davis

Trey Fort

Josh Hubbard

D.J. Jeffries

Shawn Jones Jr.

Cameron Matthews

Jaquan Scott

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