Mississippi State Men’s Basketball Bounces Back against Vanderbilt

An ugly game offensively from the Bulldogs and Commodores but State's defense leads them to get a much needed victory.

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It is no secret that Vanderbilt doesn’t have the offensive firepower like Alabama or No. 8 Kentucky so it was no surprise that Mississippi State shut out the Commodores in their 68-55 victory at home.

It wasn’t the prettiest game but with both teams struggling on offense, something had to give. Vanderbilt (5-13, SEC 0-5) got into early foul trouble that allowed the Bulldogs to get to the free-throw line with ease. Mississippi State (13-5, SEC 2-3) has struggled at the line in their previous outings, and its charity stripe woes continue to be a problem.

The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 12-22 from the line many of those coming from Tolu Smith III. 

Smith had another impressive performance, finishing with a double-double finishing with 25 points and 11 rebounds. He has been playing heavy minutes since his return from his foot injury but now he seems to be in playing shape. 

"There were miss matches down low and I feel like most nights there are going to be miss matches regardless of how big or how tall and we put a lot of work in our game and the results show," Smith said.

This is back-to-back 25 plus-point performances for Smith and with more time back on the court, continue to expect more out of him. 

Another consistent player in the previous number of games has been Trey Fort. Seemingly in the doghouse by head coach Chris Jans, he has worked his way out with explosive plays and pure effort when it's time to get checked into the game. 

Jans believes in him and spoke about how he has adapted to the changes in his role as the season has played out. 

"It was almost a curse that he made the shots that he did that first game. He struggled a little bit and then his role changed obviously it's something that he didn't think would happen but he has stuck with it. He's been buying in and his minutes will hopefully continue to go up if he continues to do the things he needs to do," Jans said. 

He has been an energizer bunny for the team that has been searching for someone else off the bench outside of Josh Hubbard.

For Hubbard, it was another off night for him shooting four of eleven from the field but was two of five from behind the arch. After struggling in the loss against UK, he seemed to be timid at times when shots were available. He is a natural scorer and will shake off the slump that he has found himself in.

The Bulldogs will be back on the road heading to the Swamp to take on Florida (11-6, SEC 1-3) on Jan. 24 (7:30 CT on SEC Network).