Coming off a win over Central Arkansas last week, Mississippi State returned to Humphrey Coliseum and got another victory, 87-48, over Mississippi Valley State.

The Delta Devils came into the contest as one of the worst teams in America, which gave the Bulldogs a massive advantage. State took a 42-25 lead heading into the halftime break before closing the door by outscoring MVSU by 22 in the 2nd stanza.

MSU shot lights out, 55.9% from the field and 39.1% beyond the arc, but Ben Howland believed that defense was the key.

“I thought we did a good job defensively,” Howland said. “Give them credit, they showed a lot of patience offensively, and I thought it really helped them. It’s much more difficult to defend a team when they’re keeping the ball for long periods of time.”

Two more key stats for State tonight were rebounds and points in the paint. The Bulldogs snagged 47 rebounds, out-boarding Valley by 23, and scored 38 paint points.

“We’re gonna have the advantage a lot of the time with our size, and we’ve got to take advantage of it,” Howland said.

MSU was led by Iverson Molinar’s 18 points with D.J. Stewart following closely with 15 points. Tolu Smith tallied a double-double tonight, scoring 13 points along with 12 rebounds. Mississippi State improves to 5-3 on the year and opens SEC play on Wednesday against Georgia in Athens.