No denying MSU in upset overtime win against TCU

It was a hard-fought game that came down to who wanted it more, and there was no denying the Mississippi State Bulldogs when it mattered the most.

In their game of the SEC/ Big 12 Challenge, the Bulldogs snapped their fivegame losing streak on Saturday when they took down No. 11 TCU in an electric 81- 74 decision in Humphrey Coliseum.

MSU had a big start of the game on Saturday when it had a lead as big as 12 points in the first half. Despite being without leading rebounder Eddie Lampkin Jr. to start the game and losing leading scorer Mike Miles early on, the Horned Frogs crawled their way back late in the first half and cut the Bulldogs' lead to only six going into the halftime break.

The second half was much different than the first. It was a back-and-forth battle between Mississippi State and TCU with six lead changes.

When 40 minutes wasn't enough, MSU turned into a different kind of beast in the overtime period. After giving up an easy basket to start overtime, the Bulldogs just could not miss when they shot a perfect 4-for4 from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the 3-point line with both of those 3-pointers coming from guard Shakeel Moore.

This MSU team has been in the position several times this year where it had the lead late but didn't finish in the end. Moore broke down what was being focused on late in the game that ensured the victory for the Bulldogs.

“We were just thinking about finishing our winning plays, executing on a defense end, and just honing in on our defensive possessions, getting rebounds, checking out, and stopping second chance opportunities for them,” Moore said.

Forward Tolu Smith had a career game on Saturday when he led the Bulldogs with 27 points and a double-double, but that's not what he cares about.

Smith said breaking the losing skid MSU had been on for the previous five games was most important.

“It means a whole lot,” Smith said. “We're looking to make a full 180 on our season. Things haven't been going our way, but we continue to stay together and continue to fight together, and things can happen as you've seen (Saturday).”

As one would imagine, there was a different postgame feeling in the MSU locker room on Saturday than previously. For the players, it was a feeling of excitement and celebrating a big win. For State head coach Chris Jans, it was a more relaxing feeling.

“For me, it was an exhale,” Jans said. “For the guys, they were super excited, joyous, and celebrating a win. When I addressed them, we didn't talk about much other than how proud I was of them during this stretch, because it's really easy to start listening to the noise and other people… For the most part, by and large, they had stuck together, and they kept working.”

The Bulldogs traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, to take on the Gamecocks on Tuesday.