State's road woes continue as Bulldogs drop 79-70 decision at Florida
Will Richard had 23 points while Walter Clayton and Zyon Pullin each had 15 points to lead Florida to a 79-70 win over Mississippi State on Wednesday in Gainesville, Fla.
Josh Hubbard led Mississippi State with a game-high 26 points, including five 3 pointers, while Tolu Smith had 10 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the year. Cameron Matthews just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 11 boards and Shawn Jones added nine points.
The Bulldogs fell to 13-6 overall and 2-4 in the SEC while Florida improved to 13-6 and 3-3.
“Richard had it going, more than he usually does, and he also had nine rebounds,” said Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans. “As the game dwindled in the first half, they started to beat us up on the glass. That was a frustrating time for us at halftime. They have good size and their bigs are always around the basket. And they ask their guards to rebound, too, and they are committed to it.”
For the game, State shot just 39% from the floor and made 8 of 33 beyond the arc. The Bulldogs were only 4 of 9 at the foul line and outrebounded Florida 46-41, including 22 offensive boards.
Florida shot 42% overall and made 8 of 25 from 3 point range. The Gators, who also got 12 points from Tyrese Samuel, made 17 of 20 from the charity stripe and had seven turnovers.
State fell behind as many as 17 points in the second half before making one final push in the closing minutes. The Bulldogs used a 14-3 run and cut the Florida lead to 69-63 following two free throws by Hubbard with 3:15 remaining in the game. But the Gators made their last 10 free throws to ice the victory.
“It gave us a chance to get back in the game and we increased the tempo,” Jans said. “We had to make a change and pick the pace up a little bit. Our kids did a good job of playing with some desperation and they were desperate and they were urgent. We mixed up the defenses and we had a couple of chances (to cut the lead more). We just couldn’t quite to get to that point where we had a chance to win the game. It was good to see they continued to fight and scratch and claw.”
Smith was just 5 of 12 from the floor and 0 of 2 at the line after going 9 of 12 from the floor last Saturday in a win over Vanderbilt.
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“(Tolu) had a frustrating night,” noted Jans. “He’s a big boy and he knows that. We expect a lot from him and the expectations we have for him are very, very high. Sometimes the expectations are unfair but when we get him that ball down there around the charge circle, we’ve got to convert. Not just him but Jimmy Bell was 0 for 2 in the first half. We were getting the ball where we wanted to. It has become an issue for us, not finishing at the rim and missing free throws.”
Both teams started out cold in the opening minutes until Hubbard started to heat up for the Bulldogs. The freshman guard scored six straight to give State a 15-10 advantage near the midway point of the first half.
But Florida quickly responded with a 13-2 run to grab a 23-17 lead and the Gators led the rest of the half. State cut the deficit to one point a couple of times but trailed 43-34 at halftime.
State shot 40% in the opening half and made 4 of 16 from 3 point territory. The Bulldogs made just 2 of 7 at the line and had six first-half turnovers. Florida shot 47% in the first half and made 5 of 15 beyond the 3 point arc. The Gators had just three first-half turnovers and outrebounded State 22-21.
Mississippi State returns home Saturday as the Bulldogs host No. 8 Auburn in a 2:30 p.m. tipoff at Humphrey Coliseum.
