Bulldogs falter down the stretch, bow out of SEC Tournament in 85-73 loss to Missouri

NASHVILLE – Mississippi State was run off of its own court in a 88-61 game in the first meeting against Missouri this year, but the Bulldogs were counting on a different game in round two of the SEC Tournament.

The Bulldogs were in position most of the night to give themselves a chance, but finishing late in both halves would be an issue. Down by two points at the final media timeout, State surrendered a 13-4 finish in the last 4 minutes and had their stay in Nashville end in a 85-73 loss.

“Would definitely like to have those last 4 minutes back. It was winning time, and we didn’t play well in winning time,” head coach Chris Jans said. “They played better than we did. It was back and forth the whole game and I felt good about it. You’ve got to make the plays, you’ve got to get stops and we just weren’t able to do it.”

It was yet another frustrating outcome to what’s become a frustrating season for State.

MSU (21-12) couldn’t find much help at the guard position for Josh Hubbard all night as Riley Kugel and Claudell Harris combined to shoot 0-for-10 with three points. Hubbard had 24 points a night after scoring 26 points against LSU. He was just 8-of-22 from the field and 3-for-14 from three.

It was another rough shooting night for the team as State combined for 6-of-30 from long range and just 24-of-66 from the field. The Bulldogs also missed some key free throws when the game was tight and were 19-of-27 in the game.

State forced 14 turnovers and had just eight, but getting beaten 43-35 on rebounds proved to be more costly. MSU had 11 steals and 12 assists.  

“It’s one of those games where there are so many pivotal plays,” Jans said. “I thought we had at least one or two pretty good looks at three when we were up and had some momentum and we weren’t able to do that.”

The Bulldogs battled through some tough moments all game long. In the middle of an offensive drought in the first half, State fell behind by as much as 28-20 with 8:19 left in the first half.

Defense began to clamp down on the Tigers from there and the Bulldogs were able to use that to get some offense going. MSU tied the game on several occasions but could never get over the hump before Mizzou managed to score the final five points of the half.

The last of those points came from Caleb Grill who hit a three-pointer in the final second. It was the only bucket in the first half by the SEC’s Sixth Man of the Year.

Slow second half starts have plagued the Bulldogs all season and it was a concern heading into the first few minutes in this one. Instead, State would quickly get the game tied and it would begin to be a seesaw affair.

As would be the case most of the game, State couldn’t string together enough consistent runs in the game. The Bulldogs got a lead at 68-67 with 4:52 and then the Tigers would start to gain control again. Mizzou came out of the media timeout and shut the State offense down the rest of the way, finishing the game on a 16-4 run and holding the Bulldogs to one of their last nine from the field.

“It was just a bad stretch for us and a good stretch for them,” Hubbard said. “They executed well offensively and we had some defensive errors.”

KeShawn Murphy had 18 points in the loss on 6-of-12 shooting and he had eight rebounds, four steals and two assists. RJ Melendez had 12 points but was just 3-for-11 from the field and 1-for-7 from three. Shawn Jones gave State a boost in the first half and had 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Though State held Grill down to just five points on 2-of-11 shooting, Tamar Bates and Tony Perkins picked up the slack. Bates scored 25 points on 8-of-12 with 3-of-5 makes from three and Bates had 20 points on 6-of-10 and had seven rebounds. The two combined for 14-of-14 from the line.

With the loss, State now heads home to wait on Selection Sunday. The team is safely in the NCAA Tournament projections but expected to be on 8/9 line when the field is announced.

“10,000 foot view, we’re in a good position, but I wanted to be a great position. We controled our own destiny,” Jans said. “We had a fairly good 16-18 games. I thought we weathered the storm pretty good, but we finished the regular season with an overtime loss to Texas and a one-point loss to Arkansas. We played well (vs. LSU), but we didn’t play well in winning game. We’ll regroup and be excited about what’s next for us, but right now it’s opportunities we let get away from us.”