Mississippi State
20-10,8-9SEC
South Carolina
10-20,3-14SEC
Bulldogs Top Gamecocks And Keep Surging
February 28, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
MSU defeats South Carolina 74-68.
STARKVILLE – Just three days had passed since Mississippi State's critical victory over now-No. 24 Texas A&M when the Bulldogs tipped off with South Carolina on Tuesday night.
The triumph over the Aggies was electric. It was emotional. It also set up a must-have contest against the Gamecocks as MSU tried to continue to solidify an NCAA Tournament resume.
Once again, the Dawgs delivered.
State topped South Carolina 74-68 at Humphrey Coliseum. MSU – already in the NCAA Tournament field per the latest projections from ESPN's Joe Lunardi – got one step closer to the big dance with its eighth win in the last 10 games.
The Gamecocks proved to be an incredibly tough test, but once again as has been the case so often of late, State simply got the job done.
"To me, in terms of where we're at in the season, it's like we're in tournament mode – it's survive and advance," MSU head coach Chris Jans said. "They don't draw pictures on the scorecards…At this point in the season, it's all about winning the game."
To get this one, the Dawgs had to dig deep and rely on contributions from everyone.
Shakeel Moore scored a team-high 20 points with 14 of them coming in the second half. He also drew a pair of charges down the stretch that swung momentum in the Dawgs' favor.
After getting honored as part of pregame Senior Night festivities, Tolu Smith went out and tallied 16 points with six rebounds. Freshman Shawn Jones, Jr., added a career-best 11 points.
Most of the offense from Smith and Jones came in what was a high-scoring first half. In fact, MSU's 42 points over the first 20 minutes were its most in a first half all season.
Smith and Jones combined for 20 points in the period. The Bulldogs needed every point they could get early as South Carolina made eight of its first nine shots from the field to put MSU down 21-14 less than seven minutes in.
The Gamecocks were still up, 30-29, when State seemingly took complete control. The Bulldogs closed the first half on a 13-4 run and led 42-34 at the intermission.
However, the game was far from over.
Out of the locker room, South Carolina slowly cut into the MSU lead, then overtook the Bulldogs and had a four-point lead at 57-53 with 8:20 left. It was about that point when the game became the Moore show.
He'd score 12 points down the stretch, along with drawing the critical offensive fouls, to ultimately push MSU over the top.
"It was all about locking in and executing," Moore said.
Put another way, it was a refusal to lose the Bulldogs have collectively shown – really all year – but especially since toppling TCU back at the end of January to spark this current magical run. State will try to keep it up on Saturday at Vanderbilt. That's when the Bulldogs and Commodores will meet at Memorial Gymnasium with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.
State will surely enter the game in Nashville feeling good about itself. However, the Bulldogs know that while they've played themselves into a tremendous situation, the work is far from done.
"We are really excited, and we know what we have to do," Smith said. "We know we have to take advantage of this opportunity. I try not to get into the bracketology and all of that, but we just have to win out. Keep winning and that's all it is."
