STARKVILLE — Mississippi State had seemingly turned its season around yet again in the second half of Southeastern Conference play, and the Bulldogs did so by returning to their defensive-minded identity.
But against a much tougher four-game stretch to close out the regular season, that identity deserted MSU at the worst possible time. The Bulldogs went blow for blow Saturday with No. 17 South Carolina, but were fighting an uphill battle for virtually the entire game and lost 93-89 in overtime on Senior Day, their fourth consecutive defeat heading into the SEC Tournament.
“The last three games have all felt very similar in terms of how they’ve unfolded,” head coach Chris Jans said. “The margin throughout the game wasn’t as big, but that theme of playing from behind and fighting uphill all night long was the same. We were within striking distance throughout the game tonight. In some of those other games, we had to mount runs to even get close to having a chance to win the basketball game, but it felt the same.”
MSU (19-12, 8-10 SEC) led for all of 17 seconds early in the second half, even though the Bulldogs never trailed by double digits. Every time the hosts made a run, the Gamecocks (25-6, 13-5) had a quick response. Usually, that response came in the form of either B.J. Mack or Collin Murray-Boyles, two physical forwards who combined for 44 points on 17-for-21 shooting.
Murray-Boyles frequently got the better of Bulldogs star post player Tolu Smith, who was held without a field goal in the first half in his final game at Humphrey Coliseum despite standing four inches taller than Murray-Boyles. Mack went blow for blow with Cameron Matthews and hit a big basket in the paint in the final minute of overtime to keep MSU at bay.
“They’re really good players in their own right, and they did it so efficiently,” Jans said. “We tried to switch up coverages throughout the game, both in our ball screens and our PED, which is our post-entry defense, and we doubled them at times depending on who was guarding the block and who had the ball. They’re really good at using that to create offense for them on the weak side.”
The Bulldogs trailed by six with four minutes to go before Dashawn Davis and Josh Hubbard hit 3-pointers within a minute of each other, and after a dunk plus a free throw by Zachary Davis, D.J. Jeffries connected from distance to tie the game again. Mack appeared to win it with two foul shots for South Carolina in the last five seconds, but Dashawn Davis drew a foul and made two free throws of his own to send the game to overtime.
Gamecocks leading scorer Meechie Johnson, though, made a 3-pointer on the first possession of the extra session, and MSU trailed the rest of the way despite cutting the deficit to a single point on five different occasions.
“It’s really frustrating knowing it was right there, it was in our hand and we couldn’t really grasp it and get the win,” said Matthews, who finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds. “We’re a group of adults and we know that this game doesn’t make or break our season. We have a big tournament coming up, SEC Tournament; we make a good run in that, everything’s good.”
Three of the Bulldogs’ starters — Hubbard, Matthews and Smith — played at least 41 minutes, and only Shakeel Moore and Shawn Jones Jr. saw significant playing time off the bench as South Carolina’s second unit outscored MSU’s 13-4. Hubbard led all scorers with 28 points and had made all eight of his free throws when he was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 11 seconds left in overtime and the Bulldogs down by three.
Hubbard, who set the program record for most made 3-pointers in a single season Saturday, made the first two but was a tad long on the third attempt. MSU was forced to foul after Mack secured the rebound.
“My teammates just pushed me through it,” Hubbard said. “Obviously it’s a frustrating moment for me. My teammates kept my head high, kept me positive.”
Smith did get going in the second half to join Matthews with a double-double on 14 points and 10 boards, and Davis added 16 points in his final game in Starkville. The Bulldogs just were not able to string together enough stops on the defensive end, as the Gamecocks made four of five field goals and all six of their free throws in overtime.
MSU will play LSU in its first SEC Tournament game in Nashville on Thursday at noon. The Bulldogs defeated the Tigers by 20 in Baton Rouge on Feb. 24, but have not won since, and are likely looking at a must-win scenario in order to return to the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re just trying to process what happened today,” Jans said. “We’ll figure out how we get through this, and we really didn’t talk about going forward right now. We’ll have plenty of time to regroup and get ready.”
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