Mississippi State’s hot shooting ran out in the Bahamas on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs (4-1) went cold from the field en route to a 72-58 loss to Louisville (4-1) at the Baha Mar Hoops tournament in Nassau, Bahamas.
Mississippi State shot 20 of 60 from the field and just 1 of 15 from deep in its first loss of the season. The Bulldogs trailed by as many as 20 points in the first half and faced a 28-point deficit in the second half.
Iverson Molinar led Mississippi State with 17 points, but he shot just 5 of 16 from the field. Forward Tolu Smith played for the first time all season, going 4 of 5 from the field and leading the Bulldogs with seven rebounds.
Mississippi State was the fourth-best 3-point shooting team in the country going into Thursday’s game and left the contest as the 40th-best.
The Bulldogs will wrap up the tournament at 11:30 a.m. Saturday against Richmond (3-3). The Spiders lost 86-80 to Maryland earlier Thursday.
Maryland and Louisville will play for the tournament championship at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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