NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mississippi State did not get a first-round bye in the SEC men’s basketball tournament, so it simply turned its opener into one.

Josh Hubbard made six 3-pointers and finished with 26 points, and Mississippi State made 15 3-pointers as a team as it clobbered LSU 91-62 in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Wednesday.

It was the largest SEC Tournament victory ever for Mississippi State (21-11), and its 15 3-pointers were also a team tournament record. The Bulldogs advanced to face Missouri in the second round Thursday at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.

“It’s definitely motivating,” Hubbard said of the blowout victory. “Five games in five days ain’t easy, but I feel like we’re off to a good start. We were just motivated for this game. We just take it one day at a time. We don’t look forward or look in the past, we just be where our feet are.”

LSU (14-18) had a disappointing season come to an end. The Tigers went 11-2 during their non-conference schedule, then crashed hard by losing 10 of their first 11 SEC games. They finished the season on a six-game losing streak, with five of those by double digits.

“The disappointing piece is it felt like our trajectory was good, winning the nine games in the league last year to get in the top half, having a strong non-conference schedule there, going 11-2,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said. “Just unable to get the job done at the level required, combination of injuries, the overwhelming level of talent and quality of teams in the SEC. Just weren’t able to produce the type of results we wanted in league play.”

LSU kept it close for the first 10 minutes, and then Mississippi State pulled away in a hurry. A 3-pointer by Claudell Harris started a 23-5 run by the Bulldogs to end the first half. They went into the locker room ahead 44-24 and were never threatened in the second half.

LSU missed its last 11 shots from the field over the last 10:04 of the first half. It did not get closer than 11 points in the second.

“I feel like in that stretch, we were just playing Bulldog basketball, getting after the ball, getting deflections, getting defensive rebounds,” Hubbard said. “We’ve been preaching that ever since we got here. As long as we have that mindset just coming out defending, rebounding the ball, we can just be a scary team.”

Jordan Sears led LSU with 20 points, Robert Miller III had 14 and Cam Carter had 13.

Despite Mississippi State’s high point total and big lead, Hubbard was its only player to score in double figures. The scoring was spread around, with eight players finishing with between five and nine points.

The Bulldogs scored more than 80 points for the fourth game in a row, and more than 90 for the second in a row. They lost 93-92 to Arkansas in the regular-season finale.

“I wasn’t happy with the Arkansas game. No one was,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. “But there’s a little part of me that’s coached myself a little bit that, hey, if we can continue to play offense like that and share the ball and have multiple guys take some pressure off of Josh, which we did there, and then we did again today. Certainly Josh had that amazing run in the first half. But other guys had some runs themselves and made some shots. We got out in transition and showed our athleticism.”

Southeastern Conference Tournament
At Nashville, Tenn.
All games on SEC Network unless noted
March 12
Arkansas 72, South Carolina 68
Texas 79, Vanderbilt 72
Mississippi State 91, LSU 62
Oklahoma 81, Georgia 75
March 13
Ole Miss vs. Arkansas, Noon
Texas A&M vs. Texas, 2:30 p.m.
Missouri vs. Mississippi State, 6 p.m.
Kentucky vs. Oklahoma, 8:30 p.m.
March 14
Auburn vs. Arkansas-Ole Miss winner, Noon (ESPN)
Tennessee vs. Texas-Texas A&M winner, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Florida vs. Mississippi State-Missouri winner, 6 p.m.
Alabama vs. Oklahoma-Kentucky winner, 8:30 p.m.
March 15
Semifinals, Noon and 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
March 16
Championship game, Noon (ESPN)