Mississippi State’s bodily top-10 protection introduced out each uncharacteristic errors and previous nightmares for Missouri because the Tigers fell 63-52 on Saturday at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Mississippi.
Following a Sean East II missed jumper, Cameron Matthews accomplished a lob to Tyler Stevenson, who accomplished the alley-oop to provide the Bulldogs an 11-point lead with six minutes to play, deliver the house crowd to its ft and drive the Tigers to name timeout.
At that time, Missouri (17-6, 5-5 Southeaster Convention) hadn’t registered a discipline objective for the reason that 10:38 mark, and its 13 made buckets equaled the identical quantity of turnovers dedicated by the Tigers.
“In the end we’ve to handle the ball. And should you look all through the sport, all of our main ball-handlers had turnovers,” Dennis Gates mentioned. “We will’t play video games like that.”
The Tigers completed with 15 whole turnovers. Isiaih Mosley had essentially the most with 4, whereas D’Andre Gholston and Mohamed Diarra had three apiece. Kaleb Brown and Sean East II every recorded a pair and Nick Honor recorded one in every of his personal, leaving simply 4 Tigers with out a turnover. The Bulldogs capitalized off the Tigers’ turnovers, scoring 12 factors of their 11-point victory.
Free-throw taking pictures additionally plagued the Tigers, giving shades of the Texas A&M and Florida street video games when the Tigers shot lower than 75%. Towards Mississippi State, Missouri shot 66.7% from the free-throw line, which was detrimental in making an attempt to match Mississippi State’s model of basketball.
“I assumed if we might have adjusted the way in which we should always to the physicality, which means execute on the free-throw line, win a free-throw recreation, but additionally be capable of get to the basket extra within the paint. I don’t suppose we did that sufficient,” Gates mentioned.
Whereas the Tigers struggled from the charity stripe, the Bulldogs, and particularly Tolu Smith, thrived with their model of basketball. Smith completed with 25 factors and 12 rebounds to associate with taking pictures 9 of 12 from the free-throw line. He was essential within the early minutes of the sport flattening a free throw, grabbing two defensive rebounds and recording a block as Mississippi State constructed an early 8-1 lead.
“I assumed he completed by means of contact nicely, he drew fouls,” Gates mentioned of Smith’s efficiency. “He does an amazing job of promoting and getting positioned. I feel he’s one of many high submit gamers within the nation.”
In the meantime, Missouri struggled to get going early. Noah Carter recorded three fouls within the first 10 minutes, forcing him to sit down out. With Carter out, it offered extra alternatives for reserves Mohamed Diarra, Kaleb Brown and Mabor Majak.
“I knew what kind of recreation it might be, so in preparation, I assumed these guys could be ready to do sure issues,” Gates mentioned. “And clearly the end result didn’t give us that, however I did see some positives inside the sport.”
Missouri didn’t draw back from the Bulldogs as DeAndre Gholston recorded 9 first-half factors,together with a sequence of scoring six straight factors to shut the hole to only 24-22. Missouri finally tied the sport, however behind Smith and the Bulldogs’ capability to outrebound the Tigers, Mississippi State pulled away for a 33-27 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs (15-8, 3-7) regained momentum within the second half as they prolonged their lead out of the gate.The Tigers by no means got here inside 4 factors for the remainder of the way in which. The center minutes, which Gates has usually recognized as essential in the middle of a recreation, didn’t fare too nicely for the Tigers.
“(They) completed the primary half and the start of the second half on a 19-5 run, and I feel that put our again towards the wall in that timeframe,” Gates mentioned.
Missouri shot simply 6 of 23 (26.1%) from behind the arc. In losses coming into its matchup towards the Bulldogs, the Tigers shot a mixed 20% from behind the arc, a pointy drop from their 42% in wins.
Missouri returns house to face South Carolina at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Mizzou Area.