It was another early exit from the NCAA Tournament for Mississippi State, as the No. 8 seed Bulldogs fell 75-72 in the first round Friday against No. 9 seed Baylor in Raleigh, North Carolina. MSU is now 0-3 in the tournament under head coach Chris Jans and has not won a game in March Madness since 2008.

The Bulldogs shot relatively well in the first half, at 46 percent, but still trailed by five due to turnovers and shortcomings on the boards. Baylor had 14 second-chance points in the half and 18 points in the paint as MSU once again overcommitted at times to defending the 3-point line.

Josh Hubbard looked right at home on the big stage, getting downhill and making difficult shots look easy. He had half of his team’s made field goals over the first 20 minutes, but was called for his second foul with more than seven minutes left until the break. The Bulldogs’ second-leading scorer, sixth man KeShawn Murphy, already had two fouls by then, and both players spent key minutes on the bench. MSU was held scoreless for more than two minutes to end the half.

Star Baylor freshman VJ Edgecombe missed his first three shots of the day, all from behind the arc, and did not score his first points until more than 17 minutes of game time had elapsed. His only field goal of the half came on a tough take over RJ Melendez with just over a minute remaining. But fellow freshman Robert Wright III had his shot working, and Norchad Omier was a perfect 5-for-5 at the line before halftime and finished the half with nine points and six rebounds.

The same problems plagued the Bulldogs (21-13) early in the second half despite Hubbard’s best efforts to keep MSU close. Baylor (20-14) took a game-high 10-point lead and never let the Bulldogs get much closer until the final stretch.

Hubbard nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to make it a two-point game inside of two minutes remaining, then three free throws from Harris trimmed the deficit to one. Murphy’s hook shot again made it a one-point game with less than 30 seconds left. But after two free throws for Edgecombe, Hubbard gave the ball to Harris, who could not hit the rim on a would-be game-tying 3-pointer.

Takeaways

1. MSU’s “secondary scorers” were too inconsistent all year. That cost the Bulldogs in the end. MSU is at its best when its offense involves more than just Hubbard, but the other shot-makers were all cold for most of the game. Forwards Cameron Matthews and Murphy were both held scoreless for the entire first half. The three transfers in the backcourt — Melendez, Riley Kugel and Harris — were not picking up the slack until late in the second half.

It was more of the same from the closing stretch of the regular season, when the Bulldogs could not manufacture enough offense to overcome its defensive struggles. After starting the year 14-1, MSU closed the season losing 12 of its last 19 games.

2. Some new issues reared their ugly heads at the worst time. Turnovers and rebounding were not usually the biggest problems for the Bulldogs throughout the season, but Baylor disrupted MSU’s offense in the backcourt and closed off the passing lanes. The Bears aggressively crashed the offensive glass and took advantage of their second-chance opportunities.

3. There’s always next year. Jans will again need to rebuild a portion of his roster in the transfer portal, but only Matthews, Melendez and Harris are out of eligibility. Hubbard, Murphy, Kugel, Shawn Jones Jr. and more have the option to come back and try to lead the Bulldogs to their fourth straight tournament appearance. MSU will have to defend better next season — not an easy ask without Matthews — and surround Hubbard with more shooting.