Postgame Notes: State vs. No. 12 Auburn

TEAM NOTES

Mississippi State had its SEC Tournament run come to a close in a hard-fought 73-66 decision versus fourth-seed and No. 12 Auburn during Saturday's semifinal round.
The Bulldogs sit a 21-13 and will await an at-large bid to next week's NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Field of 68 will be announced Sunday at 5 p.m. CT televised by CBS.
State faced a ranked Auburn squad for the 8th time in the last 10 meetings since 2017-18.
The Tigers have won eight of the last 10 aforementioned meetings in the series and improved to 83-71 all-time against State.
State drops its first neutral game of the year to move to 8-1 this season and to 13-4 over the last two seasons under Coach Jans on neutral floors. Overall, Coach Jans is 38-17 in his 8th season as an NCAA Division I coach on neutral floors.
State fell to 2-2 this season when tied at the half.
The Bulldogs drop to 13-5 this season and 21-7 over the last two seasons under Coach Jans during day games.
State has registered 10-plus steals in 11 outings this season and on 23 occasions in two seasons under Coach Jans.
The Bulldogs grabbed a 37-29 rebounding advantage and have won the battle of the boards in 25 out of 34 games this season.
The Maroon and White have a 17-8 record this season when outrebounding its opponents and are 34-12 during the last two seasons when accomplishing the feat under Coach Jans.
The Maroon and White hauled down 17 offensive rebounds, which led to 12 of the game's 17 second-chance points.
State drops to 21-10 this season and 37-13 over the last two seasons under Coach Jans when shooting 40.0 percent or higher.
The Bulldogs connected on 23-of-56 from the field (41.1 percent), knocked down 3-of-15 from three-point range (20.0 percent) and sank 17-of-27 at the free throw line (63.0 percent).
State is 15-4 this season and 23-6 over the last two seasons under Coach Jans when converting on at least 15 free throws.
Conversely, Auburn logged a 25-for-50 shooting effort (50.0 percent), sank 6-for-19 of its triples (31.6 percent) and turned in a 17-for-22 effort from the charity stripe (77.3 percent).

PLAYER NOTES

Josh Hubbard

Earned the nod in State's starting five for the 15th straight game.
Collected a team-leading 20 points and has tallied double figures in 29 of 34 games.
7 of Hubbard's last 8 outings have resulted in 20+ points which marks his 13th performance of 20+ points for the season which is tops in the country among freshmen.
Amassed 25.4 points per game fueled by 35 three-pointers over his last 8 contests.
For the season, sank 105 of 178 field goals (59.0 percent) from beyond the three-point line.
Registered 5+ field goals made for the 20th outing of the season.
Finished 7-of-8 from the charity stripe which marks his 13th outing with 5+ free throws made.
Recorded multiple steals in 5 outings this season.

Tolu Smith III

Started his 18th game of the season and 102 of his 107 games in the Maroon and White.
Produced 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to claim his 9th double-double of the 2023-24 season.
Tallied 24 of his league-best 34 career double-doubles versus SEC competition.
19 of his 38 games have resulted in double-doubles dating back to mid-January of last season.
Notched double figures in 16 of 22 outings this season and in 81 of 107 games at State.
Grabbed 10+ rebounds for the 10th time of 2023-24 and the 38th time of his career.
The 81 career games in double figures moved Smith III into sole possession of 9th place on the program's list.
He eclipsed Tony Watts (1989-90-91-92) during today's contest.
The 10 rebounds give the Bay St. Louis native 863 for his career. He surpassed Erick Dampier (1994-95-96) to move to 6th place on the program's all-time rebounds list during today's game.

D.J Jeffries

Made his 26th start of the season and has started in 91 of 100 games as a Bulldog.
Put up 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
Secured double figures in 6 games this season and in 64 career games.
State drops to 26-11, while State and Memphis are 47-17 when he scores 10+ points.
Finished with a season-high 5 made field goals which marks his 31st career performance with 5+ field goals.
Marked his 20th game of 2023-24 and the 73rd outing of his career with 5+ rebounds.
The 6 rebounds moved Jeffries into 32nd place on the program's all-time rebounds list with 546 career rebounds.
He passed Jerry Jenkins (1973-74-75) and Ray White (!976-77-78-79) during today's contest.
Registered multiple steals for the 6th time this season and 32nd time of his career.
Marked his 10th outing of the season and 37th career game with 3+ assists.

Cameron Matthews

Started his 54th straight outing and 67 of the team's 68 games over the last two seasons.
Collected 3 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Grabbed 5+ rebounds for the 26th outing of 2023-24.
Handed out 3+ assists for the 19th time this season and the 41st outing of his career.
Secured multiple steals for the 17th time this season.
50 of his 68 games with multiple assists, 48 of his 66 games with 5+ rebounds and 34 of his 53 games with 2+ steals have occurred during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

Dashawn Davis

Started his 23rd game of the season and 52 of his 65 games in the Maroon and White.
Racked up 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals.
Grabbed multiple steals for the 16th time this season with 34 of his 47 games with multiple steals coming during the past two seasons.
Posted 10.8 points over his last 5 outings.

Bench

Shawn Jones Jr. secured 7 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals.
Registered his 5th performance of the season and 9th career performance with multiple steals.
Shakeel Moore tacked on 7 points and 3 rebounds.
Jimmy Bell Jr. rounded out the scoring with 3 points, 3 rebounds and a block.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Notes: State vs. No. 12 Auburn

Players Mentioned

Jimmy Bell Jr.

Dashawn Davis

Josh Hubbard

Shawn Jones Jr.

Cameron Matthews

Shakeel Moore

Tolu Smith III

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