STARKVILLE — Sam Purcell has preached all season about the importance of not letting it affect Mississippi State’s defense when the Bulldogs are not hitting shots.
MSU entered halftime Thursday holding a seven-point lead over Tennessee, but when the Bulldogs’ shots stopped falling in the third quarter, their defense lapsed as well. The Volunteers took full advantage, ending the period with 13 straight points and never looking back to send the hosts to a 75-64 defeat at Humphrey Coliseum.
“They took us out of our sets, and then we missed layups (and) free throws,” Purcell said. “Too many turnovers, sloppy play, and it’s unacceptable. It’s as simple as that. It’s going to be a hard film session to watch. It was our game. We were trying everything. … You have to be the tougher team, and unfortunately we weren’t.”
MSU’s head coach was certainly pleased with the way his team started the game, which was moved two hours earlier due to weather concerns. The Bulldogs (15-5, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) shot better than 50 percent in the first quarter while holding Tennessee (11-6, 4-1) to just 4-for-18 from the floor and 1-for-9 from 3-point range, taking a 25-12 lead on two Erynn Barnum free throws in the first minute of the second quarter.
But the Volunteers became less reliant on outside shots and instead began forcing their way into the paint, while also stepping up their interior defense. MSU center Jessika Carter sat out for the last six and a half minutes of the first half after picking up her second foul, and Tennessee used her absence to close the gap. Former Bulldog Rickea Jackson led all scorers with 19 points.
“Our awareness off the ball got a little bit better,” Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper said. “We were making some plays. They missed a few shots in that second quarter that I felt like they had made in the first, but they didn’t get a lot of easy looks, and we were doing what we needed to do. Obviously I know they had some foul trouble, so they didn’t have their entire starting lineup out there for the entire second quarter, but still proud of our team.”
The game continued to tilt in the visitors’ favor almost immediately out of the break. The Volunteers trimmed their deficit to one, forcing Purcell to take a timeout, before Lauren Park-Lane nailed an open corner 3-pointer. But MSU did not score again for almost seven minutes after that, by which point that double-digit lead the Bulldogs had enjoyed early now belonged to Tennessee.
The Volunteers’ bench came up big — Tamari Key helped slow down Carter and finished with eight points and three blocks, and Kaiya Winn had 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting to go along with three steals.
“Kaiya came in and gave us great energy, which she always does,” Harper said. “She practices like that every single day. She came in and was very effective defensively. She had a ton of deflections, had a few steals, some defensive boards, guarded well, and then handled the ball well. She came up with a couple loose balls that I thought were critical for us closing the game out.”
Barnum played a season-high 34 minutes for MSU and recorded a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. But while Debreasha Powe was 3-for-5 from deep and finished with 12 points, the rest of the Bulldogs were a combined 2-for-10 from behind the arc.
MSU is next in action Monday night at Florida, which has lost to the same SEC opponents the Bulldogs have (Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Tennessee). The Gators picked up their first conference win last Sunday against Georgia and will have had a full week off by the time Purcell’s team pulls into Gainesville.
“Once that momentum started going, it was a roller coaster,” Purcell said. “We did everything we could, my kids fought, and then you get a steal and we miss a layup, then you miss two free throws … credit to (Tennessee) for making all the tough plays.”
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