Mississippi State turns back Vanderbilt behind Tolu Smith double-double

It wasn’t pretty but in the end, Mississippi State got back on the winning track Saturday with a 68-55 win over Vanderbilt in Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs used a 23-5 first-half run to grab control and put it on cruise control the rest of the game.

Tolu Smith had 25 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the year as the Bulldogs improved to 13-5 overall and 2-3 in the SEC. Josh Hubbard added 11 points off the bench while DJ Jeffries had 10 points and six boards.

“Happy we won and was looking forward to being back in The Hump and playing a home game after the last outing here,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans said. “We had a chance to play really well. There for awhile I thought we were really humming on both ends of the floor.

“We were sharing the basketball and we were playing a style we’ve been trying to do lately. We were trying to play inside-out and get a lot of paint touches. And we were doing it and the defense was locked in pretty much from the jump.”

Smith was 9 of 12 from the field and 7 of 13 at the foul line. After scoring 26 against Kentucky on Wednesday, Smith had just one rebound at halftime but managed to grab 10 boards in the second half, including four offensive rebounds.

“I think the coaching staff and my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball,” said Smith. “We knew there was mismatches down low. I feel like most nights it is going to be a mismatch regardless of how big or how tall (the opposing team is). We put a lot of work in on the low block and we put a lot of work in, in our game in general. The results showed tonight.”

Tyrin Lawrence had 16 points to lead the Commodores, who dropped to 5-13 overall and 0-5 in the SEC. Ven-Allen Lubin and Evan Taylor each added 11 points for Vanderbilt.

State shot 43% for the game and made 6 of 21 from 3 point territory. The Bulldogs struggled at the foul line again with a 12 of 22 showing and had 13 turnovers. State did dominate the backboards at 45-33, including 13 offensive boards, as backup center Jimmy Bell had seven boards in the first half.

Vanderbilt was held to 38% shooting and a 5 of 22 showing behind the arc. The Commodores were 10 of 18 at the charity stripe and had 11 turnovers.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” Smith added. “It’s not going to be perfect every night and Mississippi State basketball is not pretty. We are some grimy players. We get down and get nasty. I think the main thing that Coach Jans emphasizes is that we’ve been here before. We’ve been here many times and we just have to fight through it, fight back.”

State led by as many as 19 in the second half only to see Vanderbilt trim the lead down to 10 points a few times. But the Commodores never got the deficit under double digits the rest of the way to remain winless in the SEC.

Both teams took turns with the lead in the opening minutes before State clamped down defensively. After being down 12-10, the Bulldogs went on a 23-5 run to grab control at 33-17 in the final minutes of the half. A Hubbard 3 pointer gave State a commanding 36-21 halftime advantage.

The Bulldogs shot 43% in the first half and made 3 of 10 behind the 3 point arc. The Bulldogs were 7 of 12 at the line and outrebounded the Commodores 25-12 in the first half. Vanderbilt shot just 26% in the opening half and made 3 of 14 from 3 point range. The Commodores made 4 of 4 at the line and both teams had six first-half turnovers.

“Unfortunately there in the second half we started sputtering on the offensive end,” added Jans. “We missed a free throw here, miss a finish. It changes the vibe in the room and it gets in thier heads a little bit. And they took advantage of it and got back in the game. In the end we were able to make enough plays to get the win.”

Mississippi State returns to action Wednesday as the Bulldogs hit the road at Florida for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff in Gainesville, Fla.