Mississippi State, we have lift off. The Rocket is now flying high.

Guard Rocket Watts that is, who made the Humphrey Coliseum his own personal launching pad on Thursday night, scoring 15 points to help push MSU to a 75-60 victory over Lamar. The win moved the Bulldogs to 6-1 for the young season and, perhaps nearly as important, allowed Watts the chance to finally fully display his own personal skill set that only makes State stronger and deeper moving forward.

"Rocket gave us a huge lift," Bulldogs head coach Ben Howland said. "He played his best game as a Bulldog thus far. You're seeing glimpses of how he's going to be able to help us…This was a huge game for him for him to gain confidence moving forward."

Watts played only 13 minutes, but he made the most of it. He scored from the outside, knocking down three of four 3-pointers. Inside the three-point line, Watts hit a floater. He made a jumper after faking a defender. He had a nifty layup on a baseline drive that just beat the shot clock.

This was the Watts Mississippi State knew it was getting when he swapped MSUs and transferred from Michigan State earlier this year. Watts was an impact player the previous two seasons for the Spartans, but he's had to be patient in his early days as a Bulldog while recovering from an offseason hip surgery to relieve pain he'd been experiencing for quite some time.

Watts missed the first two games of the season as his recovery from the procedure continued. Then, upon his return to the floor, he had some rust to shake off. Watts scored only four points over his first four outings of the year in 57 total minutes of action. He had one basket each night against Detroit Mercy and Louisville. He was scoreless against Morehead State and Richmond.

All the while though, Watts was getting more comfortable. The engines were revving up, so to speak. Then came Thursday when he started to soar.

"It's been a long time coming," Watts said of his performance. "I'm just really thankful for my teammates over this whole process, just keeping my head good. The coaching staff kept believing in me, just telling me, 'It'll come. Trust the process. Keep working on your shot and getting treatment on your hip.' I'm just thankful and excited."

As grateful as Watts was to be shining, his teammates were just as happy to see it.

"He looked great," center Tolu Smith said. "It just shows what we can do and what we're capable of. We have a lot of players like him that can provide for us off the bench. It's just great."

When Watts is at the top of his game as he was on Thursday, MSU has to be one of the deepest teams in the country. Lamar experienced it firsthand.

The Bulldogs had four players score in double figures. There was Watts, then there was Iverson Molinar with a team-high 17 points. Molinar has scored at least 13 in all eight games this season.

Smith scored 14 and brought down 11 rebounds for his second double-double of this season and 10th of his career. Garrison Brooks just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine boards.

Three other Bulldogs scored at least five points as Shakeel Moore had seven, Javian Davis tallied six and D.J. Jeffries put up five.

The threats on this team – offensively and defensively – are seemingly endless.

"We are deep – really, really deep," Smith said. "If someone is having an off night, we can fix that in a hurry."

Watts served as the perfect example of Smith's claim when Smith had a scoreless, rebound-less first half. Smith of course went on to have a huge second half, but before he got going, Watts scored nine of his points over the first 20 minutes to pick up the slack. Watts then added his final six points after the intermission to wrap up his special evening.

"All I could do [leading up to this moment] was stay prayed up and take it day by day," Watts said.

It's only one game and just one win, but for Watts and the Bulldogs, this might perhaps be so much more. Because given his approach and focus, it seems like it won't be too long until State's Rocket is blasting off again and giving an already dangerous MSU squad another consistent, high-impact weapon.

"This was a huge game for him to build that confidence heading into what's next," Howland said. "I just thought he played really well all the way around. He really gives us a calming effect. He knows how to play. He was very, very good out there. He let everything come to him. Nothing was forced. I'm really pleased with how he played. I'm so happy for him and so happy for our team. To have that kind of player that can give us that kind of charge off the bench is huge for us."