Mississippi State pulls away from Ole Miss in second half

Will McNair Jr. scored a season-high 13 factors, Tolu Smith added 12 and Mississippi State warmed up within the second half to beat Mississippi 64-54 on Saturday.

After neither crew reached 32% within the first half, the Bulldogs (12-3, 1-2 SEC) shot 50% within the second, outscoring the Rebels (8-7, 0-3) 28-8 over an 11-minute stretch to go up by 13. Mississippi State had its largest lead of the sport at 59-46 after an Eric Reed Jr. dunk with 1:22 remaining.

Each McNair, averaging underneath 4 factors per recreation, and Smith had been 5-of-7 capturing in serving to to present Chris Jans his first SEC teaching victory. The Bulldogs snapped a three-game shedding streak after opening with 11 straight wins.

Reed had 9 factors and eight rebounds and D.J. Jeffries additionally had eight rebounds to steer MSU to a 42-34 edge on the boards, together with a plus-6 benefit on the offensive glass whereas outscoring Ole Miss by 10 within the paint.

The Bulldogs, ranked fourth in scoring protection at slightly below 57 factors per recreation, had 12 steals amongst 15 Ole Miss turnovers.

The Rebels’ main scorer, Matthew Murrell, didn’t get his first bucket till a layup on the buzzer within the first half acquired the Rebels inside three. He shot 6 of 9 within the second and completed with 19 factors, although he was only one of seven from 3-point vary. Jaemyn Brakefield added 10 factors and Myles Burns grabbed 10 rebounds. The Rebels misplaced their fourth straight.

The Bulldogs led for a lot of the first half and had been up 26-23 on the break. Ole Miss shot simply 28% within the first half and went 11 1/2 minutes between discipline objectives in a single stretch. Nonetheless, when TJ Caldwell snapped the drought with a 3-pointer, the Rebels trailed by solely three.

Ole Miss is host to Auburn on Tuesday. Mississippi State is at Georgia on Wednesday.

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