No. 14 Mississippi State embarrassed by No. 20 Missouri at Humphrey Coliseum

Even before his team took to the floor on Saturday, Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans had a feeling that something was off. And that feeling turned out to be accurate.

Caleb Grill had a team-high 20 points, including a 6 of 11 showing from 3 point range, as No. 20 Missouri dominated No. 14 Mississippi State, 88-61, at Humphrey Coliseum. As a team, Missouri made 15 of 32 attempts beyond the 3 point arc.

Tamar Bates added 14 points for Missouri (17-4 overall, 6-2 in SEC) while Josh Gray finished with 10 points. Josh Hubbard paced Mississippi State (16-6, 4-5) with a game-high 24 points while KeShawn Murphy had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Before Saturday, Missouri had dropped eight straight road games at Mississippi State and the Tigers had lost eight of the previous nine matchups with the Bulldogs.

“They are the best team in the country that nobody is talking about,” said Jans of Missouri. “Unfortunately, I sensed it a little bit and tried to do something about it, verbally, with a couple of guys before the ball was tipped. Usually, you will settle in and the competitive juices will take over.

“But I think when it was 35-30, I thought maybe we could get closer and get to halftime and regroup and come out and get the crowd behind us. It just went from bad to worse. It was a bad stretch for us and it took the wind out of the crowds’ sails.”

Leading by 14 at halftime, Missouri had a 15-0 run early in the second half to quickly put the game away. For the game, the Tigers shot 55% from the field and made 7 of 10 from the foul line. Missouri had 11 turnovers on the day and outrebounded Mississippi State 39-31.

“I just feel like we didn’t come out with our pop,” said Hubbard, who was 6 of 11 from 3 point range. “I don’t think it was from the Alabama game, necessarily. I think we just kind of overlooked them. I feel like if we had come out more prepared, mentally, and I feel like our minds were not on the game and they crashed. We talked about it and we just didn’t execute.”

The Bulldogs shot just 36% for the game and made 8 of 26 from 3 point range. Mississippi State made 13 of 20 at the charity stripe and had 11 turnovers.

Missouri opened the game with a 10-2 lead before Mississippi State responded with an 11-2 run to take a brief 13-12 lead in the opening minutes. But the Tigers kept firing away from the 3 point arc and regained control late in the half. Missouri closed out the half on a 12-1 run and led 45-31 at halftime.

“Positivity, moving on,” Hubbard added. “We can’t let this game affect our next game. I think that’s the main thing, just going back to the drawing board, taking things from this game to learn from it and get some extra shots up. I think that’s the main thing.”

The Tigers shot 52% in the opening half and made 9 of 19 from 3 point range. The Tigers were 4 of 5 from the line in the first half and had seven turnovers. Missouri also outrebounded Mississippi State 20-14 in the first half, including seven offensive boards.

Mississippi State shot just 38% in the first half and made 6 of 13 beyond the 3 point arc. The Bulldogs made 5 of 8 from the line and had eight first-half turnovers.

After a rare break next week, Mississippi State begins the second half of the SEC schedule on a two-game losing streak. And the key in the coming days is to try to fix the issues at hand.

“We’ve had some tough losses and we haven’t won every game we’ve had at home,” added Jans. “But I don’t ever remember having that feeling I had this afternoon. I was embarrassed for all of us. It starts with me. It is my responsibility to have the pulse and get them ready to go either gameplanning or motivated.

“I feel awful for our fanbase, for our administration, for everybody that loves Bulldog Basketball. It is an awful feeling and I never want to have it again. We are going to do what we got to do to make sure that never happens again. It is going to be a long week.”

Up next

Mississippi State at Georgia next Saturday with a 5 p.m. tipoff on SEC Network – Mississippi State gets a rare break in SEC play and don’t return to action until next weekend.