Mississippi State’s backcourt one-two punch of Iverson Molinar and D.J. Stewart was the primary reason the Bulldogs were in the NIT championship in the first place.
In Sunday’s championship, the magic ended.
Neither Molinar nor Stewart could penetrate a stingy Memphis defense that ranked 19th nationally in points allowed, combining to shoot 3-of-17 from the floor for a combined 10 points in a 77-64 loss to Memphis in the program’s first-ever NIT title game appearance at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
“You’re not going to win many games like that,” Mississippi State coach Ben Howland said after the loss.
The Tigers threw haymakers at the Bulldogs out of the gate, holding MSU scoreless for the first 7 minutes and 20 seconds of action in a stretch that resulted in the team missing their first 10 shots from the field. With a blink of an eye, the Tigers had 13 points before MSU’s first bucket. Memphis also held Stewart scoreless in the first half and forced 10 turnovers entering the break.
Yet, unexpected scoring contributions from freshmen Cameron Matthews and Deivon Smith somehow, someway, left Memphis and MSU tied at 31 apiece at halftime.
“I was really proud of the way our guys fought back,” Howland said.
Coming into Sunday, Matthews, primarily a defensive specialist, was 6-of-26 at the free throw line and 4-of-21 beyond the arc coming into the contest. At halftime, he shot 3-of-3 at the charity stripe and made 2-of-3 3-pointers for 11 first-half points. Matthews finished with a team-high 19 points.
“I learned that I need to be more aggressive, because my coaches tell me I’m a little too passive,” Matthews said. “They want me to stay aggressive whenever I’m in.”
Meanwhile, Smith scored 17 points in 34 minutes of action.
“I wanted to be that spark off the bench as usual,” Smith said. “I wanted to pick my team up because we were getting a little frustrated earlier.”
The Bulldogs were without Tolu Smith, the Southeastern Conference’s leading rebounder and the best post scoring presence on MSU, for the third straight game because of COVID-19 contact tracing protocols. Howland told reporters Smith was “absolutely fine” and had tested negative for five consecutive days. Before tipoff Sunday, Smith tweeted “Been a fun season.”
Memphis’ Boogie Ellis was too much for MSU to handle, scoring 23 points while D.J. Jefferies, the former high school teammate of Matthews, contributed 15 points and five blocks.
“I thought Ellis started to take advantage of us in the second half,” Howland said. “But their defense created some offense for them because they got out in transition and got some easy looks.”
With the defeat, MSU finishes its season 18-15 overall. NIT run aside, 2020-2021 was an up and down season for a team that lost its four leading scorers from a year ago and was picked to finish 12th in the SEC preseason poll. Highlights for the year include a fast start to conference play, beating Kentucky for the first time in 12 years in the SEC tournament, and wins over NCAA tournament teams in Missouri and Florida.
Fans will want to forget home losses to SEC bottom feeders Vanderbilt and Texas A&M, a stretch where the team lost 6 of 7 conference games and the all-too-often stretches of inconsistent offense that plagued the Bulldogs for much of the year.
In his press conference, Howland lauded the team’s effort and improvement throughout the year despite less than ideal circumstances.
“I didn’t see Nick Weatherspoon not returning for his senior year. I honestly didn’t think Robert Woodard would end up (entering the NBA draft),” Howland said. “I thought he’d come back another year. But it worked out well for him, he got a big guarantee in terms of money. Then we lost two great players in Reggie (Perry) and Tyson (Carter). But I thought our players did a really good job this year.”
Howland added the Bulldogs will enter the 2021-2022 season with a goal of reaching the NCAA tournament.
“I’m so proud of them, their togetherness, their coachability and improvements we’ve made from where we started … overall, I’m proud of what our guys did this year,” Howland said.
DAWG NOTES: Both D.J. Stewart and Iverson Molinar were selected to the All-NIT team. … In their last four NIT appearances, the Bulldogs have made the Final Four three times, but never secured a spot in the championship until Saturday. MSU made the title game as a No. 4 seed after taking down No. 1 Saint Louis in the opening round, advancing against Richmond in the quarterfinals and finally dismantling Louisiana Tech on Saturday in the semifinals. … Howland has referred to MSU’s NIT run as a springboard for next season on multiple occasions. Referencing the last 10 championship games, four of the past 10 NIT champions made the NCAA tournament the following year (counting Texas making it this year after winning in 2019 because the 2020 tournament was obviously canceled). Five of the last 10 runner-ups made it the next year, but not since Miami was the runner up in 2015.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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