Mississippi State’s rally falls short in 75-69 loss at Texas A&M

A slow start in both halves overshadowed a furious Mississippi State rally on Wednesday and the Bulldogs dropped a 75-69 decision at Texas A&M.

It marked the third straight loss for State and the Bulldogs dropped to 19-11 overall and 8-9 in the SEC. The Aggies won their second straight and improved to 17-13 overall and 8-9 in the league.

“It is very frustrating and two games in a row,” said Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans about a slow start. “We start the game and all of a sudden it’s 8-2 or 7-0. We certainly talked about that coming into the game and needing to get off to a better start, especially being on the road.

“We tried to rally the troops at halftime and we just didn’t come out of the gates very well. We found ourselves in a deep, deep hole. We could never get it to where the game was in question down the stretch.”

Josh Hubbard led State with a game-high 24 points and it marked Hubbard’s fourth straight game with at least 20 points. Hubbard hit five 3 pointers while Dashawn Davis added 15 points, highlighted by a 4 of 5 showing from 3 point territory.

Cameron Matthews had 12 points for the Bulldogs while Tolu Smith was held to eight points and just five shot attempts, including no shot attempts in the first half. DJ Jeffries led State with 12 rebounds and also had six points.

Manny Obaskei paced a balanced Texas A&M scoring attack with 17 points and Solomon Washington had 15, including 12 in the first half. Tyrece Radford had 14 points for the Aggies while Wade Taylor added 13.

For the game, State shot 49% from the field and made 9 of 29 from 3 point territory. The Bulldogs were 4 of 7 at the foul line and had 12 turnovers. Texas A&M shot 47% from the floor and made 8 of 21 beyond the 3 point arc. The Aggies were 15 of 20 at the foul line and outrebounded State 32-31. Texas A&M also outscored State 18-9 in points off turnovers.

Trailing by 13 at halftime, State dug an even deeper hole in the second half as Texas A&M increased its lead to 57-34 at the 15:16 mark of the second half. But then State made a huge run to get back in the game and made it interesting down the stretch.

The Bulldogs exploded on an 18-2 run and cut the deficit to 57-52 after a Hubbard 3 pointers. The Bulldogs managed to get the deficit to 70-67 after a Hubbard layup with 2:21 remaining. But Taylor answered with a mid-range jumper on the following possession and State’s rally would come up short.

“I talked to DJ before the game and said hey, you are in tip-top shape now and fully healthy,” noted Jans. “And you need to go. You need to get out there and defend and rebound and run and play your style of basketball. Especially in the second half, he did that. He was pushing the ball and rebounding it. He looked good and hopefully in how many games we have left he can give us a nice shot in the arm.

“(Davis) really helped us stay within striking distance, especially in the first half. He hit a couple of big 3s and he was emptying his tank. He was defending and running, and we had to sub him at one point because he was going so hard.”

State fell behind in an early 10-3 hole but closed the gap to 15-11 after a 3 point play by Hubbard. The Aggies stretched the lead back to 24-16 before Hubbard found his groove from the perimeter. The freshman standout knocked down a trio of 3 pointers to pace a 12-2 run for State and a Matthews’ layup tied the game at 26-26 with 5:19 remaining in the half.

But the Aggies would control the rest of the way and remained hot from the perimeter. Texas A&M closed out the half on a 19-6 run and held a 45-32 advantage at halftime.

In the opening half Mississippi State shot 50% from the floor and made 5 of 11 from 3 point range. The Bulldogs made 3 of 3 at the foul line and had seven turnovers in the first half. The Aggies shot 60% in the first halfand made 7 of 10 behind the 3 point arc. Texas A&M was 8 of 9 at the foul line and had a 14-9 rebounding advantage at halftime.

“They were 7 of 10 (on 3 pointers) in the first half,” added Jans. “So they had three guys that are not prolific 3 point shooters but they stepped up and made some shots. That’s hard to overcome and kudos to those kids for making shots for their team. I told our guys we have to get our hands up better and I didn’t see them shooting like that (in the second half). And they didn’t and were 1 of 11 from 3.

“But we had a different problem in the second half and they started attacking us. That’s what they do and they are a hard-driving team and they put some pressure on you. They got Hubbard in foul trouble but the 3 point shooting in the first half really, really hurt us.”

Mississippi State closes out the regular season on Saturday against No. 17 South Carolina. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum.

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