Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury and his point guard Dee Bost
sat down for a heart-to-heart talk after the Bulldogs'
disheartening loss to Western Kentucky earlier this week.
Turns out Bost is a good listener.
The sophomore point guard tied a career high with 25 points
and fueled Mississippi State's 80-75 upset of No. 14 Mississippi on
Saturday with fearless drives to the basket.
"After Western Kentucky, Coach Stansbury told me, 'Get to the
hole, get to the hole,' and we did that," Bost said.
Bost scored 17 points in the second half for the Bulldogs
(13-3), drawing fouls as he attacked the paint against the Rebels
(12-3) in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
The Bulldogs trailed 42-37 at halftime, but used runs of 8-2
and 13-2 to rally from as much as nine down for their 10th win in
11 games.
His drives led to free throws and the Bulldogs hit 7 of 8
during the second run, finally taking a lead on a layup in
transition from Bost to make it 61-59. Bost hit 9 of 12 free throws
and overall Mississippi State was 22 for 33 in the game, far
outpacing Ole Miss, which attempted just 13.
"Dee can fall in love with his jump shot sometimes,"
Stansbury said. "That's OK, he's a good shooter. But the thing
you've got to do more than anything else is pressure that rim. When
you pressure that rim, it forces the defense to collapse on you and
opens up a lot of things."
Ole Miss' struggles on defense turned into struggles on
offense as well. A missed shot invariably ended up in Bost's hands
within a few seconds and he often caught the Rebels out of
position, either trailing or moving in too late to block his path.
"We didn't get back in transition," Warren said. "Dee Bost is
a good player. He took it 94 feet on us. It's devastating, but
we'll bounce back."
Mississippi State held both of Ole Miss' leading scorers
below their averages. Warren was nearly two points off his average,
leading Ole Miss with 15 points, and Terrico White had nine, 8.3
points off the mark. Ravern Johnson added 15 for the Bulldogs and
Kodi Augustus had 13 and 12 rebounds.
"When they didn't play well offensively, it didn't affect
them on defense," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. "They battled.
And that was something we didn't do."
The Bulldogs opened the game with a 20-8 lead after hitting
five of their first eight 3-point shots, but the Rebels began
hitting 3-pointers and answered with a 27-8 run that included four
3s to take the halftime lead.
They quickly cooled off in the second half, though, as
Mississippi State settled into a pattern. Augustus hit 4 of 4 free
throws in the Bulldogs' first second-half run, then Bost hit 6 of 6
in the second.
While he was driving the lane, the Mississippi State defense
settled into a 2/3 zone for the most part and Jarvis Varnado took
over in the middle of the court.
Varnado wasn't much of an offensive presence with nine
points, but he had 12 rebounds and six blocks and altered six or
seven others. He was most effective in the final minutes when he
had a pair of key blocks, including one on White with 16 seconds
left and the lead at 77-73.
"The last block, it was sweet because I knew Terrico had to
take that shot," said Varnado, who is 61 blocks shy of the NCAA
career record. "It's easier to get it when you know it's coming."
