Mississippi State hopes to improve shooting woes vs. Jackson State

Mississippi State has had some shooting issues.

Mississippi State has had some shooting issues.

But it has overcome them to win two consecutive games and even its record at 2-2 going into its game against Jackson State on Tuesday night in Starkville, Miss.

The Bulldogs made just 1 of 10 of their 3-pointers in their last game -- a 69-63 victory against North Texas on Friday night.

"You can win a game going 1 for 10 from the 3 if you play really good defense," Bulldogs coach Ben Howland said. "That's the bottom line. Our defense was tremendous."

Mississippi State made just 8 of 27 free throws in a season-opening loss to Clemson. They have gradually improved but still are shooting just 60 percent for the season.

"We're working on it lot," Howland said. "We've spent a lot of time at it. We're shooting a lot of foul shots."

Mississippi State got a boost in its last contest when Iverson Molinar played his first game after missing the first three in quarantine after testing positive for COVID. He scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

D.J. Stewart and Tolu Smith have both scored in double figures in all four games.

"Not being able to play, period, that really hurts because I love the sport," Molinar said. "The hardest part was watching my teammates. I feel like I let them down the first three games. I felt bad. But I didn't have symptoms, so I feel like I'm really blessed for that."

COVID-19 has kept Jackson State sidelined as well.

The Tigers have yet to play after having four games postponed or canceled due to COVID.

Jackson State finished last season 15-17 and 11-7 in the SWAC, but closed the regular season on a five-game winning streak before prevailing in its SWAC tournament opener before the season was shut down.

"We felt like the team was jelling at the right time," coach Wayne Brent said. "We've got five returning guys who played a lot of minutes and scored a lot of points."

The most notable returning players are Preseason SWAC Player of the Year Tristan Jarrett, who averaged 16.8 points per game last season; and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Jayveous McKinnis, who was a preseason pick to repeat in that role.

"I pride myself on defense and see myself as the defensive anchor on the team," McKinnis said.

--Field Level Media