Mississippi State basketball: No. 18 Bulldogs open season with blowout win

Ben Howland and the No. 18 Mississippi State basketball team got the season started off on the right foot with a dominant win over Austin Peay.

For Ben Howland’s team, the 2018-2019 Mississippi State basketball season couldn’t have started off any better as the Bulldogs cruised to a 95-67 opening night win. The Bulldogs were able to control the game throughout its entirety and win with ease to get the season started.

Once the Mississippi State basketball team seized control of the game, the Bulldogs maintained that control through the remainder of it. The Mississippi State Bulldogs led in this game for an astonishingly dominant 38:48. For the remaining 72 seconds Mississippi State and Austin Peay were tied. Once MSU had a lead, the Bulldogs held that lead.

At halftime, Mississippi State led by 16 points. The Bulldogs were able to outscore the Governors 50-34 in the first half with Quinndary Weatherspoon leading things with 13 points through the first 20 minutes.

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In the second half, MSU’s lead would only expand further as the Bulldogs continued to push on the gas and keep Austin Peay out of striking distance. While the elder Weatherspoon brother owned the first half scoring, Nick Weatherspoon controlled the second half and led MSU with 12 points in the back half of the game.

Unsurprisingly, Quinndary Weatherspoon led all scorers in the game with 21 total points and Nick Weatherspoon was just behind him with 19 points.

Thanks to a solid half of rebounding, Aric Holman was able to get a double-double by the time it was all said and done with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

Almost all of the Bulldogs’ starters got into double digits scoring with Lamar Peters coming up short with 6 points. However, Perters was phenomenal at getting his teammates involved in scoring with 7 assists.

MSU struggled to shoot from deep, nailing just 28 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. However, the Mississippi State basketball team, as a whole, shot the ball well tonight, hitting 57.8 percent of all of its shots.

Stats via HailState.com

The Mississippi State basketball team will return to action soon. On Sunday at 4:00 p.m., the Bulldogs will host the Hartford Hawks in the Humphrey Coliseum as part of the MGM Resorts Main Event Regional Round.