Men's Hoops Falls To Louisville, 72-58

Thursday, November 25

Nassau, The Bahamas

8:30 PM

Mississippi State

4-1,0-0SEC

Louisville

4-1,0-0ACC

Mississippi St.

Louisville

Men's Hoops Falls To Louisville, 72-58

November 26, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

NASSAU, The Bahamas – Mississippi State's men's basketball team was handed a 72-58 defeat by Louisville on Thursday evening at the Baha Mar Bahamas Championship.

The Bulldogs (4-1) take on Richmond (3-3) during Saturday's consolation round. Tip time is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. CT streamed online by www.FloSports.com/tv.

Iverson Molinar tallied a game-leading 17 points coupled with four rebounds, three steals and two assists. He was joined by Tolu Smith who made his season debut in double figures. Smith secured 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.

Shakeel Moore added nine points, five rebounds and three steals followed by eight points and four rebounds courtesy of Garrison Brooks.

Off the bench, Cameron Matthews secured four points and seven rebounds. Andersson Garcia recorded two blocks on the defensive end.

"Obviously, not the game we wanted to have tonight," head coach Ben Howland said. "I thought they came out and really were more physical us early in the game with their defense. It made it really hard for us to handle their pressure and their physicality. We've got to learn from this, be more physical and be tougher. We were out boarded and were 1-of-15 from three. Again, we've got to learn from this game in a hurry and turn around against another really good team in Richmond on Saturday."

Mississippi State edged out the Cardinals (4-1) by a 36-30 margin in paint points and scored 18 of the game's 20 fastbreak points. Louisville countered with a 36-10 advantage in points off the bench. The Cardinals also turned 15 offensive rebounds into 22 second-chance points.

For the contest, the Bulldogs were 20-of-60 from the floor (33.3 percent), converted on 1-of-15 from three-point territory (7.3 percent) and were 17-of-23 at the foul line (73.9 percent).

Louisville led for 37:46 of the contest and took a 41-25 lead into halftime. The Cardinals stretched the lead to as many as 28 points midway through the second half.

"Give Louisville credit," Howland said. "They came in with a great gameplan and blew up every screen that we set. They really got into the ball with pressure and crushed us on the glass. They got 15 offensive rebounds, you're not going to win a lot of games when you give up 15 offensive rebounds."

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.