Mississippi State men’s basketball likely saw its 2025-26 season come to a close in Nashville on Wednesday with a 77-61 loss to Auburn in the SEC Tournament.
Junior guard Josh Hubbard didn’t quite have the career-best performance he did against the Tigers last month, but led the team with 22 points and helped them stay alive in the second half against a resurgent Auburn team that was hungry to play its way back into the NCAA Tournament conversation. The Tigers set the tone early with seven straight points out of the gate from former Bulldog KeShawn Murphy, who also picked up a pair of quick fouls after a technical for exchanging words with the MSU bench.
Hubbard had 13 points in the first half as the Bulldogs took a 33-30 lead into the halftime interval. They scored five quick points out of the break to lead 38-30, but the Tigers responded with a 21-2 run to take control of the game. Kevin Overton hit four shots from beyond the arc during the stretch to set the pace for the second half and MSU’s shooters struggled to keep pace. Ja’Borri McGhee and Achor Achor hit back-to-back treys and Hubbard got going again with his first points of the half to pull within three, but Overton and the Tigers would pull away again in the final minutes to ice the game.
Senior Jayden Epps joined Hubbard in double digits with 14 points on the day, shooting 6-15 from the floor and 2-8 from beyond the arc.
Auburn’s Overton finished level with Hubbard on top of the scoresheet with 22 points, but had three teammates join him in double digits. One of them was Murphy, who made it 15 points just before the buzzer with a slam dunk, followed by an enthusiastic block on the defensive end.
MSU ends the 2025-26 season with a 13-19 overall record, going 5-13 in SEC play, and will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time under head coach Chris Jans.
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