Andersson García snagged the basketball out of the air and took off down the court.
The Mississippi State wing seized a South Carolina inbound pass with 4:07 left in Wednesday’s game, seeking to cut the Gamecocks’ lead to single digits.
García passed to Tolu Smith, who got it to Shakeel Moore. Moore found an open Iverson Molinar trailing the play at the top of the key, open for a 3-pointer that would have given the Bulldogs a 10-0 run.
The shot glanced off the right side of the rim and into the hands of South Carolina’s AJ Wilson. The Gamecocks went down the court and scored, pushing their lead back to 14 points.
Once again, Molinar was unable to get it done.
With their best player largely ineffective, the Bulldogs (16-12, 7-8 Southeastern Conference) were soundly beaten by the Gamecocks (17-10, 8-7 SEC) by a score of 66-56 in Columbia, South Carolina. The latest loss in a string of recent defeats for Mississippi State could be the one that all but ends its hopes for an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament.
Even head coach Ben Howland, not one to talk too candidly about the Bulldogs’ case for the Big Dance, readily admitted as much after Wednesday’s loss.
“I think we’re going to have to win the conference tournament to get in,” Howland said. “No doubt at this point. This was a must-win to keep that hope alive of having an at-large bid.”
That won’t be easy if Molinar plays like he did Wednesday night. Molinar had just 11 points, tied for his lowest scoring output of the season, on just 3-of-10 shooting as MSU trailed by double digits for the game’s final 24 minutes and 53 seconds.
Howland attributed Molinar’s lethargy to simply playing too many minutes as the Bulldogs played for the fourth time in eight days. Molinar played 37 minutes Wednesday after 35 against Alabama on Feb. 16, 31 against Missouri on Friday and 37 against the Tigers on Sunday.
“He’s getting so little rest,” Howland admitted.
Molinar’s missed 3-pointer nixed the Bulldogs’ best comeback attempt, but even had it gone down, it would have still meant a nine-point deficit for the visitors.
That’s because Mississippi State shot just 35.8 percent from the field and did not make a single 3-pointer, going 0 for 14 from deep. The Bulldogs had not made fewer than three 3s in any game this season.
Shakeel Moore and D.J. Jeffries both went 0 for 4 from beyond the arc, Molinar went 0 for 3, Camryn Carter went 0 for 2, and Garrison Brooks missed his only 3-point attempt. MSU went without a made 3-pointer for the first time since at least the 2011-12 season.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a team play a game and not make a 3. That’s a first. I’m pretty sure that’s a first here,” Howland said.
Still, MSU made Wednesday’s final score relatively close despite being outplayed in nearly every category. Even in offensive rebounds, where Mississippi State is among the nation’s top 30 teams, the Gamecocks came out with 15 to the Bulldogs’ 12. South Carolina had 38 total rebounds to MSU’s 29, due in part to MSU’s 34 missed shots.
Big man Tolu Smith said the Bulldogs’ inability to rebound made the difference despite their poor shooting game from the field.
“Tonight, it was just about the boards,” Smith said. “We’re going to have bad shooting nights.”
MSU certainly did Wednesday, going 18 of 26 from the foul line in addition to its struggles from the field. South Carolina shot 44 percent, made six 3s and missed just one free throw to MSU’s eight misses at the line.
The Gamecocks’ only period of weakness lasted roughly two minutes. In that time, Smith put together a 7-0 run all by himself, including a three-point play to cut the lead to 12. He had 21 points — one off his season-high — on 8-of-13 shooting.
Howland noted Smith, last year’s SEC rebounding leader, had just two rebounds Wednesday. Smith played in just his 15th game this season after dealing with injuries to both feet, COVID-19 and a partially dislocated knee.
“He’s not his normal self,” Howland said. “He’s still not as explosive as he was before he had the foot injuries.”
Howland said having Smith healthy for the full season would have meant a much different Mississippi State team, but the Bulldogs had plenty of time to figure things out without him and couldn’t adjust.
With just three regular-season games left, that seems poised to cost them.
MSU will host Vanderbilt at noon Saturday before No. 2 Auburn comes to town March 2, and the Bulldogs close the regular season March 5 against Texas A&M.
But even winning all three games probably wouldn’t get MSU into the Big Dance for the second time in Howland’s seven-year tenure, the coach admitted.
“Maybe if we got to the finals and lost, maybe we’d get lucky,” Howland said. “But I would think right now in my mind, it’s, ‘Win the conference tournament.’”
If that’s the case, Mississippi State can’t afford another performance like Wednesday’s against the Gamecocks.
“They just fought harder than us, plain and simple,” Smith said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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