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State follows familiar script in 75-72 NCAA Tournament loss to Baylor

3rupauk8_400x400by:Robbie Faulk•about 14 hours•

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Mississippi State and Baylor tipoff in NCAA Tournament action. (Photo by Bob Donnan, USA Today Sports)

RALEIGH, NC – Mississippi State was searching for that next step forward as a program on Friday morning.

The Bulldogs haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2008 and had as good a chance as any with a matchup against No. 9 seed Baylor. Instead, State let opportunities slip time and time again.

After falling behind by 11 points in the second half, MSU battled back to cut the lead to one in the final seconds. As was “the case most of the day, State could never get over the hump in a 75-72 loss.

“We dug ourselves a pretty big hole in the second half,” head coach Chris Jans said. “We knew that our kids would continue to fight back and put themselves in position to have a chance to be in a one possession game, but unfortunately the ball or the call didn’t go our way late.”

Bulldogs don’t take care of the little things as season comes to a close

It was a game that defined what State has done this season as the Bulldogs couldn’t take care of the little things. Baylor would make State play for all of those misses as the Bears scored 17 points on 14 State turnovers with a 15-7 advantage on offensive boards. Despite the Bulldogs having a size advantage inside, Baylor found ways to consistently get the ball off misses and scored.

“They weren’t doing anything special they just played tougher than us,” Cameron Matthews said. “They punked us (Friday). That’s all that was.”

Even with the effort seemingly going Baylor’s way for most of the game, State would battle back into the game with the three-pointer. MSU shot 10-of-29 from long range and Riley Kugel would help close a double digit lead down to one in the final minutes with a couple of those makes.

Trailing 75-72 with 9 seconds left, the Bulldogs had a ball with the chance to tie on the final possession, but it wasn’t the star shooter Josh Hubbard that got the final look. Instead, Claudell Harris took a three with defenders in his face and airballed the tying attempt and that would be the end of State’s chances.

“It was a set drawn for three options. Claudell had a good chance. I was coming off a stagger (screen). It was really whatever the defense gave us so we reacted to what they had thrown at us.”

It was a back and forth first half with the Bulldogs holding a lead at times but foul trouble from Hubbard, Matthews and KeShawn Murphy had all three on the bench for the final 2 minutes. During that time, Baylor used the opportunity to get some momentum before the half and take a 37-32 lead into the break.

State shot nearly 50% at the half but the Bulldogs allowed eight offensive rebounds and gave up 12 second chance points to give the Bears the lead. A lot of that continued in the first 10 minutes of the second half to push the lead out to 11.

Hubbard was the player that would keep State afloat as the Bulldogs couldn’t get enough help from the rest of the offense. The sophomore finished with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting with a 4-of-9 night from three.

Harris had 13 points on 4-of-8 and 2-of-6 from three with three steals. Kugel had 11 points on 4-of-7 and 3-of-6 from three and Murphy had 10 points on 4-of-6.

The loss finished out State’s season at 21-13. It was the third-straight year with a first round exit and every year has been capped at 21 wins. Jans was happy with another tournament berth, but they wanted a win.

“Getting to the NCAA Tournament is still a goal for us every single year. There’s a lot of teams out there that would trade places with us in a heartbeat for what we’ve accomplished this season and the last three combined,” Jans said. “We’re disappointed. Our goals were higher this year than they’ve ever been. We felt like we had positioned ourselves with the experience and success that it was time for more.”

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