SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Mississippi State men’s basketball picked up a huge win on the road in Utah on Saturday night, coming from behind with a 20-2 run in the second half to take down the Utes 82-74.
The Bulldogs improved to 5-5 with the win, a much-needed rebound performance after a loss to San Francisco last weekend, and that wasn’t lost on head coach Chris Jans when he spoke to Neil Price on the post-game radio broadcast.
“We needed it. If i’m being honest… it didn’t feel great for the first half and a lot of the second,” Jans said. “Really, this is how we’re going to do this. We’re not going to leave everything on the floor, and we had some pointed timeouts. You can talk all you want until you’re blue in the face, but they’ve got to do it. They’ve got to play with that bigger vitality and togetherness.”
The Bulldogs saw the return of Josh Hubbard, who contributed 13 points while dealing with an ankle injury, but the comeback was fueled by a lights-out second-half performance from Ja’Borri McGhee and Jayden Epps.
McGhee recorded a career high 29 points in the game, 19 of which came in the second half as the Bulldogs closed down a gap that was as wide as 17 points Epps wasn’t too far behind with 20 points, with the pair combining for 8-16 shooting beyond the arc. The Utes led the contest for nearly half an hour, but succumbed to a dominant stretch in the final minutes. Utah hit no shots from the floor in the final six minutes of action.
MSU is back in action against Long Island at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
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