Mississippi State women's basketball got back on track Thursday night. The Bulldogs blew past the Auburn Tigers 96-56 in Humphrey Coliseum, their biggest margin of victory in SEC play since 2020. State is now 16-5 on the season and 3-4 in the SEC.
The Mississippi State offense was unstoppable against Auburn
It's been an up-and-down season for the MSU offense, but they were on fire Thursday night. The Bulldogs shot a lights-out 62% from the field, dominating the Tigers inside with 56 points in the paint and 17 second chance points. They were an efficient 38% from three and handled business at the free throw line. It was a balanced offensive effort from State, as five Bulldogs were in double-figures with fairly evenly distributed scoring. 96 points was the most Auburn has allowed this season by a wide margin. This was a needed high-level offensive night for State.
Bulldog defense returns to form in victory over Tigers
State had one of the best defenses in women's basketball through their non-conference slate, but it had fallen considerably in SEC play. They looked more like what we had grown to expect against Auburn. The Tigers shot just 34% from the floor and 21% from three. State was able to rack up 34 defense rebounds and forced Auburn into 17 turnovers. The Tigers are a bad offensive team, and State locked them down like they should.
Turnovers remain an issue for Mississippi State women's basketball
Turnovers have been the Achilles heel for the Bulldogs, and despite a blowout victory, that issue didn't go away. State turned the ball over 19 times. Nine of those happened in the first quarter, so perhaps it's a positive sign that they only had 10 more the rest of the way. And clearly, against a struggling team like Auburn they could easily overcome those mistakes. But they have got to clean that up if they're going to challenge the league's better teams.