Rebels surprise Bulldogs
Let the rollercoaster that is Mississippi State men’s basketball continue to roll along.
The Bulldogs squandered some program momentum last week when they lost to Texas A&M by a point at home, but they followed that up by knocking off the Florida Gators at home on Saturday. Tuesday night sent MSU back on the downturn, however.
Welcoming in a struggling rival in Ole Miss, the Bulldogs looked the part of the team trying to find an identity. After a poor offensive first half, State couldn’t string together enough good defensive or offensive possessions and lost for the second time in the three-game home stretch 64-46.
“I thought our guys were excited today,” MSU head coach Ben Howland said. “It doesn’t matter what the team records are, it’s always going to be a dog fight, but they took it to us with the energy. Give them credit. We win a big game and all of a sudden everybody is talking about the possibilities for this team. You’ve got to stay level-headed and that was a humbling experience for me and for this team.”
The first half really set the tone for the Bulldogs’ poor night on the court. They managed just 21 points as they fell behind 29-21 to the Rebels. It was the secondfewest points of the season in a half for MSU, the worst being in the opening game of the season against Clemson when they scored 19 points.
The crux of the issue was the offensive flow that the Bulldogs struggled to put together. Also, Iverson Molinar had just four points and D.J. Stewart Jr. five points at the half as they were a combined 4-for-15 shooting.
“I thought they did a great job pressuring us and being really physical with our ball handlers,” Howland said. “I thought our attack of the 2-3 zone was really subpar. Basically, what we saw was pressure, denying everything and being in our face manto-man and in the zone, we didn’t attack it very well.”
Stewart began to pick it up in the second half getting out to 12 points in the half in the first 10 minutes and on 5-of-6 shooting. It got MSU to as close as four points in the game, but then it hit a brick wall.
Defense collapsed and the offense went with it as the Rebels sealed the game with
Starkville High School boys basketball player Makhi Myles (23) goes up for a slam dunk against West Point on Tuesday night. (Photos by Chris Mcmillen, SDN) a 14-3 run over a 6 minute period. It made for an insurmountable 16-point lead with under 5 minutes left in the game and a humbling loss for a Bulldog team that seemed to be coming together over a week ago.
MSU (9-6, 4-3 SEC) was an ice cold 18-of-52 from the field and made just 4-of14 3-pointers. Ole Miss shot 46% (26-of-57) and 5-of18 from 3-point range. The Rebels won the battle of the boards with 37 rebounds to 31 and their 13 second chance points to four for the Bulldogs showed Ole Miss giving more effort in the paint.
State had 18 points from Stewart as he shot 7-of-16 and 3-of-8 from long range. Tolu Smith fought through foul trouble in the game but still managed to get 10 points and six rebounds. Molinar was held to just seven points as he was 3-of-10 and he had just three points in the second half. Abdul Ado finished just 1-of-5 from the field with four points and pulled down nine rebounds.
“They really came out and played hard against us,” Stewart said. “Our energy wasn’t there from the start. The energy was there in walk through, but when the game started, it was completely different. They just outplayed us.”
Devontae Shuler from Ole Miss dictated the intensity that the Rebels would play with and he finished with 22 points after scoring 12 in the first half. Jarkel Joiner added 12 points for a Rebel team that had loss three-straight Southeastern Conference games and came to Starkville at .500 overall and 1-4 in
league play.
MSU now has to regroup against one of the hottest teams in college basketball. The Bulldogs have the unenviable task of going to No. 18 Alabama on Saturday to face a team that set an SEC record with 23 3-pointers on Tuesday night in a 105-75 blowout win at LSU.