Postgame Notes: MSU vs. North Texas

TEAM NOTES

Mississippi State used a strong first half finish and kept the momentum into the second 20 minutes to capture a convincing 72-54 win over North Texas to improve to 9-2.
The Bulldogs have won all five of their neutral court games by an average of 16.8 points this season. State also moved to 10-3 overall in two seasons under Coach Jans on neutral floors.
A key to today's game was the Bulldogs committed only 3 turnovers. Conversely, State capitalized off of 16 North Texas turnovers scoring 22 of the game's 24 points off miscues.
Dating back to the 1997-98 season, the Bulldogs have all five of their games played in Tupelo by an average of 18.2 points per contest.
Trailing 30-22 at the 4:02 mark, State ripped off eight consecutive points to draw even. Then, the Bulldogs took a 36-32 lead into the locker room behind a Josh Hubbard and a KeShawn Murphy dunk from Cameron Matthews.
State kept fire out of the intermission and scored 18 of the stanza's opening 22 points to open up the advantage to 54-36 with 12:54 remaining.
The 18-point victory moved State to 4-0 all-time against North Texas. The Bulldogs also defeated Tulane from the American Athletic Conference, 106-76, earlier this season.
With Coach Jans at the helm, the Bulldogs have won 21 of 25 games versus non-conference opponents and have held 17 of those opponents to 60 points or less. The Maroon and White have posted 15 of the 21 wins by 10+ points.
In 90 halves over two seasons with Coach Jans at the helm, State has allowed 30 points or fewer on 49 occasions (54.4 percent) and limited the opposition to under a 35 percent shooting clip 30 times (33.3 percent).
State scored 33 of the game's 46 points off the bench. Over the last nine games, the Bulldogs have outscored its opponents, 361-137, in bench points.
State has won eight of its nine games this season and moved to 26-4 overall under Coach Jans when leading at the half.
The Maroon and White scored 18 of their 25 baskets on the interior en route to outscoring the Mean Green by a 36-20 margin in paint points.
The Maroon and White put up 17 second-chance points curtesy of 17 offensive rebounds.
State drained 25-of-60 from the floor (41.7 percent), sank 5-of-21 from three-point territory (23.8 percent) and hit on 17-of-25 at the charity stripe (68.0 percent).
For the season, State has connected on 87 three-pointers which ties the 2006-07 squad for 5th-most in program history through 11 games.
Conversely, North Texas turned in an 18-for-47 shooting effort (38.3 percent), was 5-for-24 on its three-pointers (20.8 percent) and produced a 13-for-15 clip from the free throw line (86.7 percent).

PLAYER NOTES

Jimmy Bell Jr.

Started his 45th consecutive game over the last two seasons between Mississippi State and West Virginia.
Overall, Bell Jr. has started in 109 of 126 career games.
Chipped in 7 points and 5 rebounds.
Marked his 8th game this season and his 32nd career game with 5+ rebounds.

D.J. Jeffries

Started 76 of his 79 career games at State.
Put up a season's best 13 points sparked by a 5-of-6 effort from the free throw line.
Grabbed seven rebounds and added a steal.
Registered 10+ points in four of his last five outings and tallied his 62nd career game in double figures.
MSU improved to 25-11, while MSU and Memphis are a combined 46-16 when Jeffries scores in double figures.
Grabbed 5+ rebounds for the 8th time this season and 61st time in his career.
Over his last three games, Jeffries is a +71 plus-minus ratio during his time on the court.

Cameron Matthews

Started 44 of the team's 45 games over the last two seasons.
Stuffed the stats sheet with nine points, set a season-high with 12 rebounds, dished out a career-best 7 assists, registered a season-high tying 5 steals and added a season-best 3 blocks.
Notched 10+ rebounds for the 1st time this season and 7th time of his career.
Distributed 5+ assists for the 3rd time this season and 8th time of his career.
State improves to 7-1 when Matthews distributes 5 or more assists.
Swiped 5+ steals for the 2nd time this season and 4th time of his career.
Registered 2+ blocks for the 1st outing of the season and 10th outing of his career.
Collected 32 of 50 games with 2+ assists, 31 of 49 games with 5+ rebounds and 23 of 43 games of 2+ steals during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
Matthew's 5 steals gives him 145 for his career and vaults him into 12th place.
The 5 steals enabled him to surpass Darryl Wilson (1994-95-96) and Lamar Peters (2017-18-19) during today's game.

Dashawn Davis

Started 39 consecutive games and 40 of 42 games at State that he's played in.
Tucked away 4 points, a season-high 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
Marked the 5th outing of the season with 4+ assists and the 59th time of his career distributed multiple dimes.
Secured 2+ steals for the 6th time this season and 37th time of his career.
Notched 24 of 37 career games with multiple steals over the last two seasons at State.

Shakeel Moore

Earned the nod in the starting five for the third straight game.
The Bulldogs have won all three games in which he started.
Has made 47 of his 49 career starts at State.
Fired in 6 points and has averaged 11.0 points per contest during the team's three-game winning streak.

Bench

KeShawn Murphy racked up a career-best 18 points on 8-of-14 from the floor.
The eight field goals also were a career-high for Murphy.
Marked his first performance with 10+ points in 2023-24 and his third career outing in double figures.
Piled up 12 of his team-leading 18 points during the first half.
Amassed a team-best +27 plus-minus ratio while on the floor.
Josh Hubbard came away with 11 points to secure his 10th straight game in double figures.
This season, Hubbard has notched 176 points which is fifth-most for a freshmen in program history through 11 games and the most since Rickey Brown (1976-77 – 230 points).
All three of Hubbard's baskets were triples to give him 33 of his 54 field goals from beyond the arc (61.1 percent).
Shawn Jones Jr. rounded out the scoring with four points.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Notes: MSU vs. North Texas

Players Mentioned

Jimmy Bell Jr.

Dashawn Davis

Josh Hubbard

D.J. Jeffries

Shawn Jones Jr.

Cameron Matthews

Shakeel Moore

KeShawn Murphy

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