Mississippi State Men’s Basketball Loses SEC Opener at South Carolina

The Bulldogs’ offensive struggles from last season have returned in their first conference game of the season.

It's a new conference slate, but with a familiar outcome for Mississippi State basketball. 

The Bulldogs fell short against South Carolina 68-62 in the opener for Southeastern Conference play and missed out on their best start since the 2018-2019 season.

State (11-3, 0-1 SEC)  started the game strong by flexing its defensive abilities, but foul trouble stifled their momentum against a ruckus home crowd in Colonial Life Arena. MSU never got into a rhythm due to constant foul trouble from their stars all game long.

The way Mississippi State has won games up until now has been relying on some great defense while dominating the glass and getting to the free-throw line. But the Bulldogs were limited on attempts and outdueled in both categories by the Gamecocks.

Tolu Smith, Cameron Matthews, and Jimmy Bell Jr. were in foul trouble early, with Smith fouling out in the closing minutes of the game. The Gamecocks took advantage of this in the closing stretches of both halves when the game started to slow down. When MSU’s leading rebounders were out for long stretches, South Carolina (13-1, 1-0 SEC) capitalized by outrebounding the Bulldogs 41-30, and in second-chance points, 16-6.

Josh Hubbard was in a bright spot early on, scoring seven points before getting into early foul trouble that caused him to miss the last seven minutes of the first half. He finished with 13 points, tied with Smith. However, despite his efforts the team had two costly turnovers that ended the afternoon for the Dawgs.

The Bulldogs seemed to lose a step on the offensive side of the ball when he's not on the floor, and the lack of shot-creating he provided became detrimental to a team that doesn’t shoot well behind the arch. Nevertheless, he's been the team's best offensive weapon night in and night out.

The Bulldogs will travel back home and look to bounce back against a difficult team in No. 5 Tennessee (10-3) for their first home game in conference play on Wednesday (6:00 p.m. on SEC Network).

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