Men’s Hoops Falls to Ole Miss, 64-46

Tuesday, January 19

Starkville

8:00 PM

Mississippi State

9-6,4-3SEC

Ole Miss

7-6,2-4SEC

Ole Miss

Mississippi St.

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Men’s Hoops Falls to Ole Miss, 64-46

January 20, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Quotes (PDF)VIDEO: Coach Howland Presser Video: D.J. Stewart Jr. Presser

by Mikaela Elizondo, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – D.J. Stewart Jr. pumped in 18 points, but an eight-point halftime deficit proved to be difficult to overcome as the Mississippi State men's basketball team was handed a 64-46 defeat to in-state rival Ole Miss on Tuesday at Humphrey Coliseum.

The 18-point setback for Mississippi State (9-6, 4-3 SEC) was its largest of the season. The Bulldogs have only been defeated in four of their last 13 games.

Stewart Jr. produced 13 of his team-leading 18 points during the second half to reach double figures in 14 of MSU's 15 games on the season. He was two points shy of his fifth 20-point performance on the season. The redshirt sophomore was 7-of-16 from the field and connected on a trio of three-pointers.

Tolu Smith worked his way through foul trouble to notch 10 points, six rebounds and two assists, while Iverson Molinar had his stretch of 11 straight games in double figures come to a close after being limited to seven points. He grabbed six rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Making his 112th career start, Abdul Ado contributed four points and three blocks. The 112 starts put him in a fifth-place tie with Gavin Ware (2013-14-15-16) in program history.

Ado matched his season's best with nine rebounds, which enabled him to surpass former teammate Quinndary Weatherspoon (2016-17-18-19), Tang Hamilton (1998-99-2000-01) and Jamont Gordon (2006-07-08) for 15th on the program's rebounds list.

Jalen Johnson, Javian Davis and Deivon Smith rounded out the scoring for the Bulldogs. Johnson secured three points and three rebounds, while Smith added two points and three assists. Davis registered two points and a season-high two steals in his return to the rotation.

For the contest, State hit 18-of-52 shots from the field (34.6 percent), 4-of-14 shots from three-point range (28.6 percent) and 6-of-10 shots from the foul line (60.0 percent).

The Bulldogs were outrebounded by their opponent for the only the second time in 2020-21 as Ole Miss won the battle of the boards by a 37-31 margin. The Rebels also garnered a 30-22 edge in paint points and converted nine offensive rebounds into a 13-4 advantage in second-chance points.

Ole Miss connected on 26-of-57 overall (45.6 percent), 5-of-18 on three-pointers (27.8 percent) and hit on 7-of-8 at the charity stripe (87.5 percent). The Rebels backcourt of Devontae Shuler and Jarkel Joiner notched a combined 34 points. Shuler tallied 22 points and three steals coupled with 12 points, five rebounds and two steals from Joiner.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"I thought they did a great job pressuring us and being really physical with our ball handlers. We knew they were going to hard hedge ball screens. That seemed to really give us issues today, something that we've seen before. We have to do a better job of handling that."

"He [D.J. Stewart Jr.] had a few good looks in the first half that he just missed. I thought he started making the shots he normally makes in the second half. He did a good job in that respect for sure. We have to get more help. We have to be better than we were tonight offensively to be able to beat anybody in our conference."

"Ole Miss was 1-4 coming in [during SEC play], but they're much better than their record. We knew that going in. They have a really good, experienced group of guys. I thought [K.J.] Buffen was a key player for them today, along with [Devontae] Shuler. They are veteran guys that returned from last year's team. Shuler played great and had 22 points. He was really good offensively starting right from the beginning of the game. I thought Buffen's play, with his five assists, nine points, and his defense, were really key for them. Then, a guy like [Dimencio] Vaughn, who came off the bench and hasn't played that much, played a big role for them tonight as did [Luis] Rodriguez. You have to give those guys credit."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Mississippi State's top three scorers of Iverson Molinar, D.J. Stewart Jr. and Tolu Smith connected on the squad's first four field goals.

Stewart Jr. drained a left baseline trey and a late shot clock floater on the left elbow, while Molinar added a floater on his own. Javian Davis found Tolu Smith for a dunk to give State an 11-8 lead with 11:08 left.

Ole Miss found its groove behind 10 consecutive points over the next 3:38 off the clock. Devontae Shuler and Dimencio Vaughn gave the Rebels a spark with a pair of baskets to make it 18-11 at the 7:27 mark.

Shuler went to amass 12 of his game-leading 22 points during the first half as Ole Miss took a 29-21 advantage into the locker room.

Up 32-21 following a Shuler triple on the second half's opening possession, Mississippi State fired back with seven unanswered points to close within four points.

Stewart Jr. canned a pair of midrange jumper sandwiched between a Jalen Johnson right baseline three-pointer to pull the Bulldogs back to 32-28 with 17:28 to go.

Facing a 42-38 deficit after Molinar pullup jumper with 12:07 remaining, Ole Miss was able to take control behind 14 of the next 17 points over a 6:04 span to go up by 15 points.

The Rebels hit six of their nine shots capped by a Luis Rodriguez layup, whereas the lone basket for State was a Stewart Jr. trey.

The 46 points scored was the fewest for State in the series going back to a 46-42 win over the Rebels on Feb. 25, 1995.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State faces back-to-back road challenges against top 25 foes in No. 18 Alabama and No. 6 Tennessee. The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide tipoff at 5 p.m. CT on Saturday from Coleman Coliseum, televised by the SEC Network and available online courtesy of the Watch ESPN app.

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.