Mississippi State Crushes Arkansas, 84-60

The headline was originally going to be "Mississippi State Eviscerates Arkansas, 84-60" but that seemed a tad harsh. It is also oh so true, and I loved every minute of it. Maybe I shouldn't feel this way but it has been a rough year. Each agonizing game lost in the final 2-3 minutes sucked a little life out of me, only to be followed by an even more painful loss time after time. A complete and utter beatdown of an SEC team was just what the doctor ordered.

Arkansas jumped out to a 5-0 lead but two Reggie Delk threes and a pair of Jamont Gordon free throws later and it was an 8-5 MSU lead from which they would never look back. Miss St. rode 7/10 shooting from behind the arc to go into halftime leading 41-29. The second half would be just as ugly for Arkansas as they fell behind as much as 27, 72-45. The Razorbacks put a little bit of a run together cutting the lead to 16 with 3:46 to go, but that was nothing more than an annoyance.

Let us not forget about the celebrated return of Gary Ervin. He didn't start, apparently because of breaking curfew (probably partying) sometime around the LSU game. Spend that time practicing next time Ervin because you got worked over last night. Ervin checked in around the 12:00 mark of the 1st half to a rousing chorus of boos, which I thought was magnificent. A couple of minutes later on his first offensive position, Gary Ervin ran into a half-court trap and promptly turned it over on a travel, eliciting a very satisfying roar from the crowd. The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh Ervin? He finished scoreless, 0-4 from the field, two of his shots getting blocked into the 2nd row and a third failing too touch iron. The best part was him getting outscored by Joseph Iupe. Justice my friends.

Just a fantastic game. Gordon was great for the third straight game, scoring 18 points, dishing out 7 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds, all with just 3 turnovers. Maybe he has turned the corner, I don't know, but he is really playing up to his potential as of late. Rhodes also played very well for the third straight week putting up 19 points and 7 rebounds. Once again, I'd like 2 or 3 more rebounds, but I'm not going to complain about it when you score 19. Reginald Delk, Barry Stewart, and Dietric Slater rounded out the double digit scorers with 11, 10, and 10 respectively.

Mississippi State is playing their best basketball of the season right now. They've won 3 of the last 4 (should have been 4 out of 4 but I'm not bitter) and have climbed back to being tied for second in the West. Reginald Delk and Barry Stewart are knocking down shots after both went through a slump earlier in the season. Jamont Gordon is playing the best basketball of his MSU career and Charles Rhodes is beginning to play more like we saw last year. Heck, even Piotr Stelmach has given a few good minutes in the last two games. A win on Saturday at LSU would be huge.