Bulldogs turn it over to Ole Miss, end SEC Tournament stay
Mississippi State had an improbable second half turnaround in Wednesday’s game one of the SEC Tournament and the Bulldogs needed another one on Thursday.
Taking on rival Ole Miss in the second round of the tournament in Greenville, SC., State couldn’t find that same magic. The Rebels pushed their lead into double digits in the fourth quarter and never let the Bulldogs back in it in a 85-73 loss for State.
On Wednesday night, State trailed by 14 points in the third quarter and put together an unbelievable 31-0 run in the second half to turn it around and win by 20 points. MSU couldn’t make the plays on both sides of the ball to do that on Thursday as the Rebels would get control of the game.
“We made runs but we couldn’t sustain the runs,” Associate Head Coach Fred Castro said on the postgame radio. “Ole Miss looked like an experienced ball club with a lot of seniors. We didn’t get the stops we needed to get at the critical times to win the ball game.”
Bad finish to first half allowed Ole Miss momentum
It was a back and forth first half of the ball game but a poor finish to the second quarter allowed the Rebels to push ahead. There were five lead changes and four ties in the first half but Ole Miss finished the second quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 42-35 lead at halftime.
State cut the lead to three on several occasions but Ole Miss got the lead to nine at the end of the third and had full control.
Ole Miss shot 53% from the field and made 6-of-17 three-pointers with a 21-of-28 night from the free throw line and closed the game making six of its last seven field goals. The Rebels again capitalized off of State turnovers as Ole Miss followed up 26 points off of turnovers in the first meeting by scoring 20 points in this game on 21 MSU turnovers.
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The Bulldogs shot 46% from the field and made 5-of-14 threes with just 12-of-18 makes from the line. MSU won the rebounds 34-31 and had a 46-32 advantage in the paint but just nine assists.
Madina Okot and Jerkaila Jordan finished with 14 points and Okot had her 11th double-double of the season with 10 rebounds. Destiney McPhaul followed her 19-point performance against Missouri with 11 points of the bench. Eniya Russell had 10 points and Chandler Prater had 10 points and five rebounds.
The loss ended State’s run at the SECT and also handed Purcell his fifth loss in six games against the Rebels. MSU is in good shape to make the NCAA Tournament according to the latest projections and have been picked as a nine seed.
The Bulldogs will have to wait until March 16 to find out their fate with the selection show at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
“We’ll certainly give them some time off. It’s good to let them get away and let some bodies heal a little bit. We’ll be watching some film and using some self-scout and try to make sure that we put our best foot forward and have a good mindset going into the NCAA Tournament.”
