Southern shocks No. 21 Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum

Following Tuesday’s loss at Georgia Tech in the ACC/SEC Challenge, Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans thought his team had the right attitude and mindset in practice.

But on Sunday as a 26.5 point favorite against Southern, none of that was evident on the floor regarding the Bulldogs.

Tai’Reon Joseph scored 27 points and blocked Mississippi State’s final shot as Southern closed on a 12-0 run to stun the No. 21 Bulldogs 60-59 at Humphrey Coliseum.

Down 59-48 with 4:28 remaining, the Jaguars (2-6) took the lead with 23 seconds left on Brandon Davis’ layup. With three seconds left, Joseph blocked Josh Hubbard’s shot to hand Mississippi State (6-2) its second straight loss.

Joseph was 11 of 21 from the field. Davis had 12 points — five during the 12-0 run.

“We had plenty of time to stew on it and learn to grow from it,” said Jans of the previous loss to Georgia Tech. “But I didn’t expect this, certainly, and I don’t think anyone in that room would have expected this. Tuesday was tough but it is going to pale in comparison to this.”

Hubbard led Mississippi State with 14 points, and Cameron Matthews had 12. Dashawn Davis added nine points for the Bulldogs while Jimmy Bell had a game-high 13 rebounds.

“From my perspective we were really stagnant and real tentative, like we didn’t know what we were doing,” said Matthews. “It’s concerning, especially since we’ve got guys out here that have been in situations like that. I take the blame on that one and it is on me. I got to hold things down until Tolu (Smith) gets back.”

Mississippi State shot 40% from the field and had 17 turnovers. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Jaguars 34-32 and made just 7 of 26 from 3 point territory.

Southern shot 43% for the game and made 12 of 19 at the foul line. The Jaguars also had 17 turnovers and made 6 of 21 beyond the 3 point arc.

“I think it was our zone,” said Southern head coach Kevin Johnson. “We don’t have size to match up with those guys. We’ve played zone this year and we had to with the schedule we’ve played. But I had no idea we would play that much zone tonight but I am proud of them.

“Tai’Reon is a really good player. Not only that, he is a competitor. There is no question about his talent.”

Mississippi State led 9-2 lead, but the Jaguars hung around the rest of the half and had several leads. Following Joseph’s 3 pointer, Southern led 19-17 with 7:16 remaining in the half. The Bulldogs closed the half on a 5-1 spurt to lead 31-28.

State shot just 38% in the opening half while allowing the Jaguards to shoot 53% in the first half.

“Just be grateful for every opportunity and not taking any game for granted,” Matthews added. “Try not to let it spiral or snowball. So just try to go out there every day and compete.”

Against Southern’s zone, the Bulldogs never forced the issue. That trend continued once the Jaguars dropped back into the zone in the second half, and State never looked to attack the paint.

“We knew they would press us and we expected that,” Jans noted. “The second half they mixed it up, especially the last four or five minutes. We weren’t as aggressive as we probably should have been against the press and trying to score to get them out of it. It is a tough style to play against.”

Now the Bulldogs have several days to reflect on the two-game losing streak before returning to action. State travels to Atlanta, Ga., Saturday to face Tulane in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event with a 10:30 a.m. tipoff.

“Since we’ve arrived, being 1-7 in the SEC (last year) was probably the biggest adversity that we have faced thus far,” mentioned Jans. “But in my opinion it is going to pale in comparison to what we are going to go through moving forward. This is going to stay with us all year long. There’s no way around it. We’re going to have to figure out how we move forward as a group and it’s going to be hard.

“It’s going to be tough and it is going to challenge the fabric of our program. It is going to challenge some individuals in our program in terms of staying tight, staying together, believing in what we are doing individually and collectively. This isn’t going to go away ever this season.”