Mississippi State men’s basketball couldn’t make it two wins in a row with their trip to Mizzou on Saturday. The Bulldogs fell to 11-11 on the year, 3-6 in conference play, with an 84-79 loss to the Tigers in Columbia.
The Bulldogs kept pace early in a back and forth start to the game, and led 26-25 at one point before the Tigers got in a grove to closeout the first half. Mizzou led 42-35 at halftime, shooting 8-18 from three-point range and holding the Bulldogs to just 33% shooting. Josh Hubbard scored just two points in the first 20 minutes, shooting 1-9 and 0-4 from beyond the arc.
Hubbard found more of a rhythm on offense in the second half as he pushed to keep his team alive in the contest. He ended the game with 22 points on 7-20 shooting, hitting four three-pointers in the second half. Jayden Epps had a return to scoring form as well with 23 points to lead MSU, but the lack of production elsewhere and a poor defensive performance saw Mizzou continue to pull away.
The Tigers led by 16 with 13 minutes to go, their largest lead of the game, and the Bulldogs were able to slowly close the gap going into the final minutes. A four-point play by Hubbard with just over two minutes remaining cut the lead to three, but the Bulldogs couldn’t keep up the push and Mizzou wrapped up the game at the foul line. The Tigers hit 25-33 free throws throughout the contest and scored their last 10 points from the line.
The Bulldogs committed 21 fouls with freshman King Grace bowing out and three of his teammates finishing with four fouls each.
MSU returns home for a meeting with No. 15 Arkansas on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. The game will air on either ESPN or ESPN2.
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