Sometimes it is, in fact, how you start that matters most.
For the second game in a row, Mississippi State dug itself a huge hole on the road and spent nearly the entire second half trying desperately to climb out of it. And just like Saturday at Auburn, the Bulldogs’ early struggles cost them Wednesday night in a 75-69 loss to Texas A&M that knocked them closer to the NCAA Tournament bubble.
MSU (19-11, 8-9 Southeastern Conference) had the SEC’s best perimeter defense entering the game. The Aggies (17-13, 8-9) were the conference’s worst 3-point shooting team. So naturally, Texas A&M was 7-for-10 from behind the arc in the first half. Star point guard Wade Taylor IV making three of his five attempts was one thing, but Manny Obaseki nailed both of his 3-point attempts in the opening half as well and led the Aggies with 17 points overall.
Obaseki’s two 3-pointers came within a minute of each other and helped the hosts build a 10-point lead. Thanks to eight points in 62 seconds by freshman guard Josh Hubbard, MSU battled back to tie the game at 26, only to see Texas A&M end the half on a 19-6 extended run. Tolu Smith did not even attempt a shot in the first half as the Aggies did an excellent job denying the Bulldogs’ entry passes and forced him away from the basket.
“It’s very frustrating,” MSU head coach Chris Jans said. “We just didn’t come out of the gate very well.”
Tyrece Radford came out scorching hot to start the second half, with 10 points in less than five minutes to lead Texas A&M on a 12-2 run to build its largest lead. But the Bulldogs refused to quit, finally getting some paint touches for Smith and reeling off 15 straight points to trim the margin to single digits. They would eventually close the gap to a single possession as the two-minute mark approached.
Hubbard, who played through foul trouble — he picked up his third with four and a half minutes left until halftime — led all scorers with 24 points, but was forced to fire some off-balance shots late in the game and was too quick on the trigger at times, finishing 5-for-18 from deep. Dashawn Davis shot the ball extremely well in 33 minutes off the bench, with 15 points on 4-for-5 from distance.
Cameron Matthews chipped in with 12 points, and D.J. Jeffries played 30 minutes off the bench and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. MSU held the Aggies to 1-for-11 from 3-point range in the second half, but it was too little, too late.
The Bulldogs conclude the regular season at Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday against No. 17 South Carolina, a team that defeated MSU 68-62 in Columbia in the SEC opener on Jan. 6.
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