Mississippi State's basketball season comes to end with 79-61 loss in SEC Tournament
A tumultuous basketball season finally came to an end for Mississippi State on Wednesday at the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
After building out a 10-point lead in the first half of the game, the Bulldogs followed a similar script of many games this season. State lost that double digit lead and then some as the Auburn Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 47-28 in the second half to roll to a 79-61 win.
It was another abysmal game of basketball for the Bulldogs who shot 26% from three and surrendered 11 3-pointers on the other end. The second half was especially bad for State as AU made 7-of-15 3-pointers and turned the Bulldogs over nine times.
After scoring 46 points in the first meeting between the two teams including a 35-point first half, Josh Hubbard had a more pedestrian 22-point game with 8-of-25 shooting and just 2-of-8 from three. Jayden Epps would score 14 points on 2-of-9 from three in his final game as a Bulldog but no one else could help offensively.
Auburn had four players in double digits in the game including former State standout KeShawn Murphy who had 15 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-7 shooting. State allowed Kevin Overton to drop 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting from long range and his five threes in the second half got the Tigers back in control.
State had the control in the first half as the Bulldogs got out to a 33-23 lead with just 2:34 left in the half, but the Bulldogs couldn’t close. Auburn cut that to 33-30 at the half as they ended on a 7-0 run and things would tighten up a bit.
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Though MSU pushed that lead back out to 38-30 after a quick 5-0 spurt, an 18-2 AU run would end that momentum. State would get it as close as three points in the latter stages of the game, but the Tigers would push it out for good and ended on a 6-0 run.
The Bulldogs shot 39% from the field but were putrid from the free throw line with 5-of-15 makes. They had 11 turnovers that Auburn scored 14 points off of and the Tigers won the rebounding 43-39.
State (13-19) finished the worst season of basketball in over a decade as Rick Ray’s final team in 2014-15 would be the last that finished with 13 wins and the five SEC wins are the fewest since 2013-14. Head coach Chris Jans now looks to figure out a resolution as he’ll have more roster turnover with starters Epps, Shawn Jones Jr., Quincy Ballard and Achor Achor graduating along with reserve guard Ja’Borri McGhee and center Brandon Walker.
Others could also move on from the program and Jans will look to get star Hubbard back along with freshmen standouts Jamarion Davis-Fleming, King Grace and others.
