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Bulldogs dominated and embarrassed at Ole Miss
Bulldogs dominated and embarrassed at Ole Miss
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(Photo: Robert Ford, USA TODAY Sports)
OXFORD, Miss. - Mississippi State began a rough stretch of SEC road games on Tuesday at rival Ole Miss. To say the least, the Bulldogs got off on the wrong foot and then some.
After holding a 14-point advantage in the opening half, the Bulldogs were blown out 50-24 in the second half en route to an 83-58 loss to the Rebels. Mississippi State fell to 15-9 overall and 6-5 in the SEC while Ole Miss moved to 13-11 and 4-7 in the league.
"It was the first time all year anybody has beaten us like that," said Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland. "Give Ole Miss credit. We played as well as we could in the first 12 minutes and we had things going for us on both ends of the court. Then Reggie (Perry) got two fouls and I elected to not play him the rest of the night and we didn't close out that half well."
Perry led the Bulldogs with 24 points and eight rebounds but also had five turnovers. D.J. Stewart added 16 points and Robert Woodard added 12. Nick Weatherspoon suffered his worst showing of the year on 0 of 5 shooting and six turnovers.
"We just didn't attack," said Stewart. "We didn't make the right passes and we were not being aggressive the way we should be. It got out of control and we have to try to get better. There's nothing we can do about it except try to get better as a team."
Once again, Mississippi State had issues with the Rebels' 1-3-1 trapping press and failed to use a size advantage in the paint. The Bulldogs had just 20 points in the paint and had 17 turnovers. Mississippi State shot just 30.4% and missed 14 of 16 attempts beyond the arc.
"Obviously we didn't (handle the 1-3-1)," said Howland. "We talked about how we had to attack it. It bothered us and again they fed off the turnovers and that will be key for us the next time we play them. We had too many turnovers and they scored 27 points off those turnovers. I'm disappointed for us and how we respond to this is everything as we move forward to our next opportunity at Arkansas. That pain has to drive you to come back and come together to give our best effort the remainder of the way."
Meanwhile, Ole Miss shot 53.1 percent in the second half and made 5 of 11 from 3 point territory in the final half. Tyree Breein had a career-high 40 points for Ole Miss while Khadim Sy and Devontae Shuler had 18 and 16 points, respectively.
The first half featured several runs by each squad and the Bulldogs held a double-digit lead for much of the half. The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead which forced two early timeouts by Ole Miss. The Rebels also got in deep foul trouble in the opening half as Tyree picked up two early fouls Shuler and Blake Hinson also had three fouls each in the first half.
The Bulldogs took their biggest lead of the half at 32-18 following a Stewart 3 pointer. But Ole Miss closed out the half with momentum and a 12-1 run, and trailed the visitors from Starkville 34-33 at halftime.
"To say the least I'm proud of our team," said Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis Jr. "Ben has his team playing as good as anyone in our league right now. The way we ended the half was critical and we talked about settling in. When we went to a 2-3 zone, we kept a good offensive team off-balanced."
In the opening half, both teams shot 42.3% from the field. Mississippi State was just 3 of 11 from deep while Ole Miss was 3 of 9 beyond the arc. The Bulldogs made 10 of 15 free throws in the first half and held a 22-16 rebounding advantage. Ole Miss was 8 of 12 at the charity stripe in the opening 20 minutes.
Mississippi State remains on the road Saturday and face Arkansas in a noon tipoff. Naturally, the Bulldogs have to bounce back in a major way with lots of work left to do on their NCAA Tournament resume.
"The zone gave us problems and it slowed us down on offense," said Woodard. "We focused on that zone a lot in practice and we felt like we had it down pat. But things changed in the moment and we have to find easier ways to score.
"At this point it is just a sense of pride. You do whatever you can to stop the bleeding and it's just about keeping composure knowing we will see them again."
SOURCE: Jones, Paul. "Bulldogs dominated and embarrassed at Ole Miss." Gene's Page - 247Sports.com, 11 February 2020,
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