Men’s Hoops Loses at Ole Miss, 83-58

Tuesday, February 11

Oxford, Miss.

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

15-9 (6-5SEC)

Ole Miss

13-11 (4-7SEC)

Mississippi State

Ole Miss

Men’s Hoops Loses at Ole Miss, 83-58

February 11, 2020 | Men's Basketball

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by Mikaela Elizondo, Graduate Assistant/Communications

OXFORD, Mississippi – The Mississippi State men's basketball team was dealt an 83-58 defeat by Ole Miss as the Rebels relied on a 50-point second half to claim the first of two meetings on Tuesday at The Pavilion at Ole Miss.

The loss dropped the Bulldogs (15-9, 6-5 SEC) into a tie with Tennessee for sixth place in the SEC standings. Mississippi State sits a half-game behind Florida and South Carolina who both return to action on Wednesday.

Reggie Perry totaled 15 of his 24 points after halftime and added eight rebounds. He has amassed the 20-point barrier during four of his last five, seven of his last nine and nine of his last 13 appearances. The sophomore was 8-of-15 from the floor and knocked down 8-of-10 at the free throw line. Mississippi State lost for only the second time in 10 games when Perry has eclipsed 20-plus points.

D.J. Stewart Jr. dialed up 16 points and four rebounds to compile his fifth double-digit scoring performance over his last seven games.

Robert Woodard II gave Mississippi State three players in double figures as he worked his way to 12 points, six rebounds and two assists. He has turned in double figures in five of his last six outings.

Abdul Ado and Tyson Carter rounded out the scoring with three points apiece for the Maroon and White who were limited to a SEC season-low in points. Ado also chipped in six rebounds, two blocks and two assists. The six rebounds allowed him to move past Barry Stewart (2007-08-09-10) into 30th place on the program's all-time list.

Nick Weatherspoon handed out six assists against six turnovers before he fouled out. The Bulldogs fell to 8-2 when Weatherspoon distributes five-plus dimes.

For the contest, MSU hit 18-of-49 shots from the field (36.7 percent), 2-of-16 from three-point range (12.5 percent) and 20-of-27 shots from the foul line (74.1 percent). The Bulldogs hit on 11 of their first 22 shot attempts but converted on 7-of-27 over the last 24 minutes of the contest.

The Bulldogs had 15 assists and 17 turnovers, while Ole Miss (13-11, had 11 assists and seven turnovers. State held a 36-34 rebounding advantage.

Ole Miss shot 28-of-58 overall (48.3 percent), 8-of-20 on three-pointers (40.0 percent) and 19-of-24 at the charity stripe (79.2 percent). The Rebels took advantage of State's 17 turnovers en route to 27 of the game's 38 points off turnovers.

Breein Tyree, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, came away with a performance for the ages as he pumped in 27 of career-best 40 points after halftime. Khadim Sy notched 18 points and eight rebounds followed by Devontae Shuler's 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"Obviously, the first time all year we've been beaten like that. Give Ole Miss credit, they were down big. We had a really nice lead. We played the first 10 minutes about as well as we could play from both ends of the floor and had a 26-13 lead. Our two bigs got in foul trouble, and I elected not to play them. I thought that during the first half, (Khadim) Sy was really effective. He had 14 points in first half and was very good."

"If you look at the turnovers, we did not handle the pressure well versus the 1-3-1 [trap]. They had 27 points off of our turnovers, and we ended up losing by 25. When you look at the turnover situation, 17 of them, so many led to easy baskets. Once they had the lead, (Breein) Tyree took the game over and made some difficult shots. He was really good tonight especially driving to the basket. Again, give them credit."

"To lose to our archrival and to lose that bad really stings. Give them credit. That pain that you deal with has to drive you to come back, really come together and give our best effort the remainder of the way which includes later this week in a very important game that we have Saturday. It just keeps coming. We have to bounce back. We can't let this loss beat us twice. Obviously, this was disappointing for us. How we respond to this is everything as we move forward to our next opportunity on the road at Arkansas.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The two teams traded a quartet of runs during the opening half.

Mississippi State struck first with 10 consecutive points to build a 10-2 advantage at the 15:50 mark. The Bulldogs received buckets from D.J. Stewart Jr. on a cutting layup, a Reggie Perry left-handed layup and a Robert Woodard II pullup jumper in transition.

Ole Miss responded with 10-0 spurt of its own to regain a two-point advantage before the Bulldogs went back to work with 16 of the next 17 points over a 5:20 span.

Tyson Carter ignited the flurry with a flurry with a traditional three-point play. Then, Abdul Ado added a dunk followed by a Perry transition layup from Stewart Jr. The Bulldogs went up by double figures, 23-13, with 8:24 to go after a Perry layup off an offensive rebound.

Mississippi State went ahead 31-18 after Woodard II and Stewart Jr. traded buckets in the opposite corners 52 seconds apart.

Ole Miss closed the half with 15 of the last 18 points and held the Bulldogs without a field goal over the last 4:20. Devontae Shuler buried a corner three-ball from Breein Tyree at the buzzer to make it 34-33 at the break.

The Rebels kept the momentum through the intermission and tallied the opening five points to snatch a 38-34 edge with 18:05 left.

Mississippi State stayed inside striking distance and drew within 44-42 after a Perry free throw with 13:06 on the clock.

Ole Miss began to pull away with 13 of the next 17 points capped by a Shuler jumper to go ahead 57-46 at the 9:14 mark.

Tyree brought the Rebels to the finish line with 20 of the team's last 26 points to wrap up the 25-point decision which marked Ole Miss' fifth largest margin of victory during the 261-game all-time series.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State continues its stretch of eight of 12 games on the road since Jan. 25 when the Bulldogs travel to Arkansas on Saturday. Tip time is slated for 12 p.m. CT from Bud Walton Arena. The game is televised by SEC Network and carried online courtesy of the Watch ESPN platform.

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.