Shakeel Moore’s 3-pointer found the center of the net with 7 minutes, 20 seconds to go in Wednesday’s game at Florida.
The triple — Moore’s third of the game on just three attempts — answered two straight buckets by the Gators to halve an eight-point Mississippi State lead. Moore’s response put the Bulldogs back up seven, seemingly a good enough cushion to close things out.
But MSU couldn’t do that Wednesday with a chance for a Quadrant 1 win well within its reach.
Florida (11-6, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) scored 20 of the next 22 points, including 14 straight at one point, to leave Mississippi State (12-5, 3-2 SEC) winless on the road in conference play with an 80-72 Gators victory in Gainesville.
“We did not do a good job in the last eight minutes of this game,” MSU coach Ben Howland said.
The Bulldogs couldn’t take advantage of a Florida team playing without center Colin Castleton, its leader in points, rebounds and blocks. Castleton observed from the Gators’ bench in a white hoodie after injuring his shoulder during practice Tuesday.
And he watched his teammates take it to the Bulldogs throughout crunch time. After Tolu Smith made a layup with 6:04 to play, putting Mississippi State up 66-63, the Gators caught fire and didn’t stop until they led by 11 points.
Seven points amid the 14-0 run came at the foul line. Florida took 30 free throws in the game, making 24.
“We had way too many fouls tonight,” Howland said. “When your opponent takes 30 foul shots, it’s kind of hard to beat them.”
Florida also made 10 3-pointers, including four by Tyree Appleby and three by Kowacie Reeves. The Gators shot 41.7 percent from deep and over 50 percent from the field.
Mississippi State had an even higher field goal percentage at 54 percent, but turnovers slowed the Bulldogs down the stretch. MSU had 16 giveaways in the game, 10 of which came in the second half. Florida turned them into 24 points.
Part of the reason the Bulldogs’ offense ground to a halt, according to Moore, was because ball movement abruptly stopped up as the clock wound down. As Florida’s 1-3-1 zone defense closed in, Mississippi State kept the ball on one side of the court, leading to bad shots or turnovers.
“The ball stuck, and that’s what hurt us,” Moore said.
The Gators focused on getting the ball out of point guard Iverson Molinar’s hands after Molinar scored 10 points and added three assists in the first half. The strategy worked: Molinar had two points on 1-of-5 shooting and two assists after halftime.
Forward Tolu Smith, playing for the second straight game after missing two games because of COVID-19 protocols, paced the Bulldogs by scoring all 17 of his points in the second half. All six of Smith’s rebounds came in the second half, too
“He started practicing on Friday. He hasn’t had a lot of time to get back to himself,” Howland said. “Hopefully that’ll happen here in the next few days and few games.”
But Smith couldn’t do it all for the Bulldogs. A 3 by Reeves gave Florida a 70-63 lead with 3:48 to go, and Mississippi State missed chance after chance and shot after shot: two misses by Molinar and one by Moore. When Molinar — the SEC’s second best foul shooter — missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:40 to go, it was clear the Bulldogs weren’t making any last-ditch comeback.
Florida added four more points before Mississippi State finally ended the run on a Smith free throw, and five late tallies by the Bulldogs weren’t nearly enough.
“They wanted it more,” Moore said of the Gators. “They played harder down the stretch.”
It was pretty much the case as MSU came up short for the second straight time on the road. The first time was Jan. 7 at Ole Miss (9-8, 1-4 SEC), whom the Bulldogs will host at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“Our main focus is that game,” Moore said. “I feel like we’ve just got to have a good and hard practice to prepare for that.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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