Mississippi State 97, New Orleans 46: Jalen Steele scored 16 points in his second game back from a wrist injury to help the host Bulldogs rout the Privateers.

Colin Borchert scored a game-high 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting, Fred Thomas added 16 points and Roquez Johnson tallied 14 for Mississippi State (5-7), which built a 27-point halftime lead en route to the easy victory.

Lovell Cook and Kevin Hill scored seven points apiece for New Orleans (3-9), which shot 33.3 percent from the field, 52.4 percent from the foul line and committed 23 turnovers in losing its fourth straight game and seventh in its last eight outings.

Steele missed six-plus weeks after fracturing a wrist and notched his second straight double-digit outing since returning to action. He was 4-of-6 from 3-point range as Mississippi State was 11-of-21 from behind the arc while shooting 56.5 percent from the field.

The Bulldogs led 29-9 after Thomas’ basket with 8:38 left in the first half. They led 43-16 at halftime and a 17-0 run early in the second half boosted their lead to 61-23 with 13:15 remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Mississippi State accumulated 14 steals, including five by Borchert. … New Orleans has lost 14 consecutive road games against Division I opponents since defeating Louisiana-Monroe during the 2009-10 campaign. … Gavin Ware added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs, who had a 35-24 edge on the boards.