State drops heartbreaker at Ole Miss 86-82

Close but no cigar. Mississippi State had chances in the closing seconds to capture a road win at rival Ole Miss on Tuesday evening. However, it was Ole Miss making the plays to hold off State with an 86-82 win at The Pavilion.

Trailing 84-82, State’s Cameron Matthews missed a pair of free throws with 4.1 seconds left and Ole Miss’ TJ Caldwell iced the victory with a pair of free throws with 3.6 seconds left in regulation.

With the loss, State dropped to 14-7 overall and 3-5 in the SEC. Ole Miss improved to 18-3 and 5-3.

On their last offensive possession, the Bulldogs turned to Matthews who had a good look at the basket on his drive. He managed to draw the foul but couldn’t get the ball to fall in the basket.

“It drew up exactly how we intended it,” said Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans of the final offensive possession. “Didn’t know if they would pressure or not. It was more taken and we had some back screens to get the ball to Hubb (Josh Hubbard) and then try to flatten them out and run a little bit of a slice action.

“I told the staff if I didn’t like how it unfolded we would call timeout and reorganize. But as it unfolded, I like how it unfolded. I thought (Matthews) was going to stick it in the goal and thought he had a pretty good path to the basket. Obviously, it didn’t work our way with the free throws.”

Josh Hubbard led State with 21 points and seven assists while Matthews finished with another double-double at 16 points and 12 rebounds. Matthews was 8 of 11 from the floor and also had five assists.

“We talked about it in the huddle before,” recalled Hubbard of the final seconds. “We know Mook (Matthews) is strong and can get to the rim anytime he wants to. We were down two and we thought it was a great time to run that play so we could get a foul or a bucket.”

Dashawn Davis had a season-high 15 points, by far his best SEC game thus far, and Shakeel Moore added 14 points for the Bulldogs. Tolu Smith was held to nine points on just five shot attempts and also had seven rebounds.

Davis scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and aided State’s run to get back in the contest. He was 6 of 8 from the field, 2 of 2 behind the arc and 1 of 1 at the charity stripe.

“That was a bright spot for us,” said Jans of Davis. “Like most of the people in here, I know he hasn’t been playing up to his capabilities. But he’s stayed with it and he’s been great. He hasn’t hung his head because of that, in my opinion. He is getting some results that are better for him, individually. Certainly we need him and everybody hitting on all cylinders. Hopefully this will boost his confidence moving forward.”

Jaylen Murray had 21 points and 11 assists to pace the Rebels while Matthew Murrell had 20. Caldwell finished with 18 points on a 4 of 5 showing from 3 point territory and Jaemyn Brakefield added 10.

Ole Miss shot 51% from the field and made 12 of 30 behind the arc. The Rebels were 10 of 13 from the foul line and had just seven turnovers.

“Whenever you beat a good team that is very well-coached unless you have players step up,” said Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard. “And we don’t win tonight without TJ’s performance off the bench. He stepped up.”

Tied at halftime, the Rebels exploded out of the second-half gates with a 14-3 run and led 53-42 early in the final half. But State kept chipping away at the defeicit steadily and trailed 71-69 after a Hubbard 3 pointer with 6:36 remaining in the second half.

The Bulldogs got within one point on a couple of occasions in the closing minutes but could never tie the game. And that left State still searching for its first road win of the season and in the SEC.

For the game, Mississippi State shot 54% overall and made 8 of 18 from 3 point territory. The Bulldogs were 14 of 20 at the line and had 15 turnovers, which helped Ole Miss outscore the Bulldogs 18-4 in points off turnovers. State did outrebound the Rebels 38-25, including 14 offensive rebounds.

“We got to do a better job taking care of the ball,” Moore said. “We’ve got to be more solid on offense and take care of it every possession.”

State jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening minutes and held the lead for much of the first half. The Rebels grabbed a 19-16 advantage midway thrugh the first half but State answered with an 11-1 run, including a pair of Hubbard 3 pointers, to take a 27-20 advantage. The Bulldogs led 34-28 before Ole Miss closed the half on an 11-5 run to tie the game at 39-39 at halftime.

In the first half the Bulldogs shot 50% from the field and made 3 of 10 behind the 3 point arc. State made 8 of 9 at the foul line and had nine first-half turnovers. State outrebounded the Rebels 20-14 in the half and had eight offensive boards.

Ole Miss shot 44% from the floor and made 6 of 15 from 3 point range. The Rebels were 3 of 4 at the line and had only four turnovers while outscoring State 12-0 in points off turnovers.

Mississippi State remains on the road to finish out the week as the Bulldogs travel to Alabama on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. The Bulldogs lost to Alabama earlier this month at Humphrey Coliseum and will hope to snap their woes on the SEC road.

“Just stick together and keep our heads up,” Moore added. “Weather the storm and everybody goes through adversity.”