State offense burns the nets, defense clamps down LSU 91-62 in SEC Tournament

NASHVILLE – While complacency crept in for Mississippi State  at times on Wednesday night, the Bulldogs resiliency to beat it was stronger in the SEC Tournament’s first round.

State had two different spurts that would douse any hope or dream that LSU might have had at a magical tournament run. Both of those spurts allowed State to run away with a 91-62 victory and get a round one win over the Tigers.

At the 10 minute mark of the first half, LSU got a three-pointer from Jordan Sears to cut MSU’s lead to 21-19. From there, it would be the Bulldogs firmly in control the rest of the game.

“We were being active, flying around, getting out to the shooters and making it tough,” senior Cam Matthews said. “On offense, it’s easy when you have a guy like (Josh Hubbard) making some shots. It’s good energy when you move the ball and we have great shooters on our team.”

State closes both halves strong to tame the Tigers

State held the Tigers without a field goal for the rest of the first half and got Hubbard hot from long range as MSU went on a 23-5 run to build a 44-24 lead at the break. During that stretch, LSU missed 14-straight shots.

The Tigers were able to get some momentum out of the locker room as the Bulldogs came out sluggish. 16 points in the first 5 minutes allowed that big lead to be cut down to 51-40, but Hubbard again gave the Bulldogs a lift.

Hubbard had 10 of the first 11 and then more players began to get involved. His long shot was followed up by threes from Shawn Jones, RJ Melendez and Riley Kugel and the Bulldogs raced back out to a big lead after a 17-0 run made it 68-40. From there, State’s bench got plenty of playing time as Jans moved to 5-0 against the Tigers in his tenure.

“I can’t imagine any coach in America not having a similar speech to their guys about the first five minutes is going to be crucial. The score is going to get out of hand or they’re going to fight back in the game,” coach Chris Jans said. “Unfortunately for us, it was the latter. That didn’t make us very happy.

“We were just sloppy with the ball. We had two inbound turnovers that just can’t happen at this point in the season. This many games under your belt. Fortunately they regrouped. We had some leaders step up in some huddles and kind of set the tone for everybody. We were able to play better till the final buzzer went off.”

It was one of the Bulldogs more complete shooting performances of the year as Hubbard spearheaded a three-point brigade. MSU finished 15-of-34 from long range. It was the most three-pointers made by State since 2019 and the first time the team has shot over 40% from long range against an SEC team this year.

Hubbard hit 6-of-12 on his threes and finished the night with 26 points in 26 minutes. He also eclipsed 100 made threes for the second year in a row and is the only player in MSU history to hit the century mark in a season.

No one else scored in double figures, but the scoring was dispersed well. Five different players scored at least eight points with KeShawn Murphy having the more impressive day of the group scoring nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, six rebounds and three assists.

The team shot 52% from the field and outrebounded the Tigers 42-34 while producing an incredible 38-2 bench points advantage. State had 17 assists and 10 steals.

Up Next

Now, the Bulldogs try to sustain a little run in Nashville.

State made it to the semifinals a year ago and will have to get quite the wins to do it again this year. It begins with Missouri on Thursday night as State gets a chance at revenge against the Tigers.

It was a rough showing when the two teams last met with the Tigers putting a 88-61 beatdown on State with 15 three-pointers. State players felt like they took Mizzou lightly and they’re planning on a different showing on Thursday.

“They caught us lacking – it was an off night,” Matthews said. “I feel like we’re going to be more prepared and ready to go (Thursday).”