KeShawn Murphy's 18 points leads Mississippi State past North Texas

It took Mississippi State about 15 minutes of playing time to get accustomed to the Cadence Bank Arena in Tupelo. But once the Bulldogs did. they turned up the heat on both ends of the court against North Texas.

The Bulldogs (9-2) used a 30-6 run that spanned over both halves and rolled past the Mean Green (5-5) 72-54 for the program’s third straight win. State has now won all three meetings in the all-time series with North Texas, who captured the NIT championship last season.

While several Bulldogs contributed, it was sophomore KeShawn Murphy producing his best game of the season. Murphy finished with a season-high 18 points and kept State in the game early on when most of his teammates were struggling.

Murphy was 8 of 14 from the field and scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half. He missed the first few games of the season due to an offseason injury but has been consistently producing over the past week or so.

“Obviously we were struggling on the offensive end,” Murphy said. “I had to still be able to help the team so any open looks I had, I took a shot at it and we had the advantage.

“I’ve just been working, helping my teammates. Coming in with the same attitude, a good attitude, and everything else will figure itself out.”

Of course, the defensive-minded head coach Chris Jans also wants to see Murphy become an all-around player on the defensive end, too.

“It’s up to Murph,” mentioned Jans. “I love him but he knows where his defiencies are and he’s just got to get better on the defensive end. He’s got to get tougher on the defensive end. He’s got to rebound harder.

“The offensive part is easy for him. He is very skilled, very talented. When he is motored up and can get to the point to where he can defend like we want him to, he provides a whole different look for us.”

DJ Jeffries had 13 points for State while Josh Hubbard finished with 11 points. Cameron Matthews was also solid in the victory with nine points, a game-high 12 rebounds, seven assists, five steals and three blocked shots.

For the game, State shot 42% from the field and outrebounded the Mean Green 37-32, including 17 offensive boards. The Bulldogs also had just three turnovers and outscored North Texas 22-2 in points off turnovers.

North Texas shot 38% from the field overall and had 16 turnovers.

Rubin Jones had a game-high 20 points for North Texas while Jason Edwards and Aaron Scott added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

After closing out the first half on a 14-2 run, the Bulldogs maintained that momentum in the second half. A 12-0 run early in the final half helped State build a 52-36 lead and the Bulldogs never looked back from that point.

“We just kept playing defense,” explained Jeffries. “Then we started scoring a little more. Like Coach Jans told us all week, just play hard and that’s what we did. We out-toughed them and we came out with the win.”

North Texas made its first five field goal attempts of the game and jumped out to a early 14-4 advantage. State would chip away at that deficit the rest of the half, largely due to the play of Murphy, and closed out the first half on a major flurry. The Bulldogs finished the half on a 14-2 run and led 36-32 at halftime.

Despite the slow start, Jans wasn’t concerned with his team and said he didn’t notice much change towards the end of the half from a defensive standpoint.

“I don’t know if something changed,” Jans said of the late first-half finish. “I thought we were really engaged, defensively, to start the game. But they made some really tough shots and a couple of balls bounced their way. I wasn’t disappointed in the huddles at all.

“One time I looked up and it was 7-1 and it felt like we were leading with our effort and the way we were executing. We missed some shots at the rim we needed to go in. But the huddles were good and the guys remained focused. We stayed the course, defensively, and as the game unfolded, our athleticism, our speed and our size got in the game.”

State shot 41% in the first half and made 3 of 13 beyond the arc. The Bulldogs made 9 of 15 at the foul line and had just one first-half turnover. State also outrebounded the Mean Green 16-15 in the opening half and had eight offensive boards.

North Texas shot 54% in the first half, including 5 of 13 from 3 point range. But the Mean Green had nine first-half turnovers and shot just one free throw.

Mississippi State returns to action Saturday with a trip to New Jersey to face Rutgers in an 11 a.m. tipoff.