Mississippi State 72, Georgia 61: Jalen Steele scored a season-high 21 points and triggered a game-breaking run in the second half to lift the visiting Bulldogs to their third straight win.

Freshman Craig Sword added 16 points and Mississippi State (7-7, 2-0 SEC) broke open a tie game with a 12-1 spurt in the second half to win its first two conference games for the first time in three years.

Steele connected on 4 of 6 3-point attempts and scored eight unanswered points in a span of 82 seconds - including two from behind the arc - as Mississippi State opened a 62-51 lead with 5:02 to play.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 16 points to lead Georgia (6-9, 0-2), which went nearly seven minutes without a field goal after tying the score at 50 with 9:06 to play.

Charles Mann was also in double figures with 14 points for Georgia. He hit 10 of 13 free throws but the Bulldogs struggled at the line overall by converting only 19 of 32.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Steele was playing his fourth game after sitting out eight contests with a broken wrist as Mississippi State ended a string of three straight losses to Georgia and took a 53-52 edge in the all-time series. ... Georgia F Donte’ Williams and G Kenny Gaines were back in the lineup after serving one-game suspensions for a violation of team rules. ... At halftime, Georgia honored its 1983 team that advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 1983.