Men’s Hoops Upended by No. 17 Villanova, 83-76

Friday, November 22

Conway, S.C. (HTC Center)

1:30 PM

Mississippi State

5-1

#17 Villanova

4-1

Villanova

Mississippi State

Men’s Hoops Upended by No. 17 Villanova, 83-76

November 22, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference Box Score (PDF)

by Mikaela Elizondo, Graduate Assistant/Communications

CONWAY, South Carolina – The trio of Tyson Carter, Reggie Perry and Robert Woodard II combined for 57 points, but the Mississippi State men's basketball team suffered its first setback of the season to No. 17 Villanova, 83-76, during Friday's semifinal round of the Myrtle Beach Invitational at the HTC Center on Coastal Carolina's campus.

Mississippi State (5-1) will conclude tournament action with a matchup against host Coastal Carolina on Sunday. Tip time is slated for approximately 12:00 p.m. CT televised by ESPNews.

Tyson Carter amassed a team-high 22 points for the third 20-plus point game of his senior campaign and added two steals. He piled up 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting during the second half.

Reggie Perry corralled his third double-double of the season and SEC-leading 12th of his career among active players as he tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Robert Woodard II nearly compiled a double-double of his own with 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Iverson Molinar and D.J. Stewart Jr. turned in nine and eight points, respectively. Molinar dished out three assists, while Stewart Jr. collected four rebounds. Abdul Ado rounded out the scoring with two points and two rebounds before he fouled out.

For the contest, MSU hit on 28-of-67 shots from the field (41.8 percent), 8-of-22 shots from three-point range (36.4 percent) and 12-of-13 shots from the foul line (92.3 percent).

Villanova (4-1) held a 34-32 rebounding advantage and scored 21 of the game's 27 points in transition. The Bulldogs had nine assists against a season-low seven turnovers, while the Wildcats came away with 20 assists and 13 turnovers.

Villanova was 31-of-53 shooting overall (58.5 percent), 10-of-24 on three-point attempts (41.7 percent) and 11-of-16 at the charity stripe (68.8 percent). Villanova had four players in double figures headed by 22 points and seven rebounds from Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. Connor Gillespie added 18 points and handed out nine assists followed by 17 points and seven rebounds from Saddiq Bay and 14 points courtesy of Jermiane Samuels.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"Our guys came out and played extremely hard. We got off to a great start and had them on their heels. What really hurt us in the first half was when they got going in transition. About at the 10-minute mark [of the first half], all of a sudden, they went on a run. We were not getting back well enough. It really hurt us when they had three layups in a row."

"We made a great comeback to get it to six, but it was my fault that they had the 3-pointer at the end [of the first half] because I should have had someone on the ball pressuring the ball. We did a much better job in the second half with our transition defense. We did a better job on the offensive glass getting nine [offensive] rebounds in the second half. I was proud of our effort, but we can play a lot better than we played today if we keep working as hard as we're working and keep studying and growing as a team. Our two freshman guards [Iverson Molinar and D.J. Stewart Jr.] are playing a lot minutes."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Mississippi State controlled the tempo during the opening 10 minutes. Reggie Perry and Robert Woodard II provided the bulk of the offense en route to 15 of the team's first 22 points. A Woodard II dunk in transition followed by a Perry layup put the Bulldogs up 22-18 at the 10:01 mark.

Villanova turned the tables with its defense and forced Mississippi State into seven consecutive field goal misses. The Wildcats also countered with a strong transition offense and knocked down seven of their nine field goal attempts during that stretch.

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl got loose for a quartet of buckets inside the paint, while a Justin Moore triple put Villanova ahead 34-22 with 4:56 remaining.

The Bulldogs fired back with nine of the next 10 points capped by a D.J. Stewart Jr. three-pointer on the right wing to bring the deficit down to 35-31 with 1:25 to go.

After two Tyson Carter free throws made it 39-33 with 2.2 seconds left, Villanova executed a fullcourt out-of-bounds play to perfection as Connor Gillespie canned a left wing trey to stretch the advantage to 42-33 at halftime.

MSU put together a 17-7 run over 5:13 to start the second half which culminated by a Tyson Carter trey to pull within one at 51-50 with 13:52 left.

Villanova grabbed 15 of the next 22 points to stretch their lead back out to nine. Then, a three-pointer and layup by Saddiq Bey extended the advantage to double digits, 71-61, with 5:48 to go.

Trailing 76-67 at the 2:42 mark, Mississippi State put together one final push down the stretch. Perry hit a pair of free throws followed by a Carter trifecta off a screen, and a Carter driving layup off the baseline to draw within 77-74 with 1:12 on the clock.

On the ensuing possession, Villanova's Robinson-Earl drew a foul late in the shot clock. He connected on both free throws to extend the Wildcats edge back to two possessions, 79-74, with 35.1 seconds left.

After Gillespie split two free throws 10 seconds later, D.J. Stewart Jr.'s putback layup brought the score to 80-76 with 17 seconds remaining.

Villanova was able to break past Mississippi State's press attempt, and Jermaine Samuels completed a traditional three-point play for the 83-76 final margin.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State concludes play at the Myrtle Beach Invitational as the Bulldogs face tournament host Coastal Carolina on Sunday. Tip time is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT and the game will be televised by ESPNews.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by searching 'HailStateMBK' on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.