Faster, physical Bulldogs run past Rebels in second half
Jan. 22—STARKVILLE — Mississippi State found its second gear in the second half Saturday and pulled away from its state rival for a 78-60 win in a game it had to have.
Which is to say a game like any other.
While the Rebels showed more desire to be in the gym than they did in Wednesday's 78-53 home loss to SEC co-struggler Missouri the Bulldogs were equally motivated.
A team that began the season with talk of the NCAA Tournament is still in the talking phase.
A loss to Ole Miss earlier this month is already a big drag on a Bulldogs' resume that has them No. 48 in the Net rankings.
Another loss to No. 135 Ole Miss would have been more than a little unhelpful.
The Bulldogs needed no charts, power points or grand visuals to understand this.
The Rebels kept pace in the first half, but a 42-41 game was not the preferred pace for a team that ranks next-to-last in the SEC in scoring.
It turned out to be one Ole Miss could not match for the second 20 minutes.
State was quicker to the ball in the second half. Ole Miss, with just four turnovers in the first half, had seven in the first nine minutes of the second half.
The biggest blow for the Rebels, though, came with 12 minutes, 53 seconds left when Matthew Murrell went to the bench with his fourth foul.
It was debatable, a charge-or-block quick decision, but it made Kermit Davis rest his leading scorer.
Murrell in the first half continued the hot hand he had earlier this month when he torched the Bulldogs with 31 points.
He hit his first seven shots — three of them 3s — in the rematch.
State led 51-49 when Murrell left the game. The Bulldogs were up nine when he re-entered 2 1/2 minutes later.
Ole Miss has had dominant scorers in recent years, guys like Stefan Moody, Terence Davis and Breein Tyree.
Murrell is developing, but he hasn't been that kind of player.
He had the Bulldogs' number in Oxford when he was 10 for 11 from the floor and 5 for 5 from 3.
That wasn't forgotten.
Guarding Murrell Saturday was like the defensive equivalent of a combo meal, some taller DJ Jeffries here, a little Shakeel Moore there, some Iverson Molinar.
Murrell wasn't out for long, but when he got back the Bulldogs had a bigger lead, momentum, the Hump's raucous crowd and a clock erasing comeback hopes a tick at a time.
That combo meal finally disrupted Murrell, who was 0 for 4 in the second half.
Beating the rival is always a good time, but the win mostly allowed the Bulldogs to avoid a bad loss on the resume.
It guaranteed them nothing except the chance to keep plugging and looking for enough bullet points to impress the committee.
With road trips against Kentucky, Texas Tech, Arkansas, LSU and Alabama coming up in five of their next seven games now's the time.
PARRISH ALFORD is the college sports editor and columnist for the Daily Journal. Contact him at parrish.alford@djournal.com.
