The old saying goes, “it’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.”

Coming off a demoralizing loss to Kentucky, the Mississippi State Bulldogs faced quite possibly the toughest test yet against #13 Missouri. After a lackadaisical first half in which State found themselves down by 12 at the break, they found a spark.

That spark turned into a flame. That flame turned into a fire. The Bulldogs flipped the game on its head, winning the 2nd half by 27 points and cruising to a 78-63 victory in the Humphrey Coliseum.

“I thought we had great leadership within the team,” Ben Howland said postgame. “I thought Abdul Ado and D.J. Stewart, Iverson Molinar and Tolu Smith, all those guys stepped up and played with great passion and fire.”

The Bulldogs’ 1st half was riddled with shooting woes and defensive struggles. State shot just over 30% from the field while letting Missouri shoot 50%. Turnovers were also a massive difference with MSU giving up eight turnovers, resulting in 15 points for the Tigers. Then, there was the 2nd half. While Missouri shot a respectable 39% from the field, they were bitten by the turnover bug.

The Tigers gave up seven turnovers of their own, which gave State 17 points on the other end. Meanwhile, MSU lit up The Hump, shooting 68% from the field.

“We were so much better in the 2nd half,” Howland said. “Defensively, they shot only 39%. We only turned it over three times; we really won the battle on the boards. Really, really phenomenal job.”

State’s 2nd half was triggered by a lights-out performance from D.J. Stewart, who was a force to be reckoned with shooting the ball. Down by 10 early in the stanza, Stewart drained six-straight baskets, being the catalyst of a 13-0 run that gave State the lead. Stewart ended the night with 24 points.

“I thought D.J. got us going when we were down,” Howland stated. “We kept running stuff to get him shots, and he kept delivering. How many shots did he make in a row? He got 13 points in a row. That’s incredible there, and we kept going to him. He’s a hard guy to defend.”

Iverson Molinar had another great outing, scoring 20 for the Bulldogs.

“I thought Iverson did a great job,” Howland added. “They [Stewart and Molinar] had 36 points between the two of them in the 2nd half, and they were good shots.”

Coming off the gut-wrenching loss to Kentucky, all eyes were on the Bulldogs to see how they would respond. How did they? Well, with what could be considered the biggest win of the Howland era and the program’s first ranked win since defeating #16 Auburn on January 26, 2019. It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.