Mississippi State
6-2,0-0SEC
Minnesota
7-0,0-0Big Ten
On A Tough Day, Dawgs’ Maturity Shines Through
December 05, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
State battled back from a pair of 14-point deficits.
STARKVILLE – Not even an hour had passed after Mississippi State's tough 81-76 loss to Minnesota on Sunday afternoon and Bulldog guards Iverson Molinar and Shakeel Moore were back on the court.
Molinar and Moore had just combined to shoot only 3-for-17 from three-point range. The duo wasn't going to wait until the next MSU practice to improve. There'd be none of that. So there was State's starting backcourt, getting up shots from long range not too long after the fans had filed out of Humphrey Coliseum.
In a way, it was a snapshot of who this year's Bulldogs are. They're a group that's not immune from difficulty, but it's a mature squad that's quick to wipe the sweat from its collective brow and get back to work when times get hard. They showed it again and again on Sunday and it's a characteristic that bodes well in MSU's quest to fight its way back to the NCAA Tournament.
"We've still got a chance to be really good," forward Garrison Brooks said after the loss. "We've just got to clean up mistakes and get better."
Sure, there were miscues in this contest for State. The Bulldogs missed their first six shots from the field. Meanwhile, Minnesota made six of its first eight and MSU found itself in a 14-0 hole early.
"The start of the game was obviously not what we wanted," head coach Ben Howland said. "We came out really amped up and took some quick shots early in the shot clock against a team that's going to be very patient like they were."
Some teams may have folded, ready to pack it in and try again another day. Not these Dawgs. Again, there was that maturity. Mississippi State scratched, clawed and fought its way back to just a three-point deficit at the half.
Even then, the momentum was short-lived. Following the intermission, Minnesota punched MSU in the mouth once more.
State was back down 14 again at 66-52 with only 9:47 to play. The Bulldogs trailed by 10 at 74-64 with just 4:41 left. Yet there remained no ounce of give in The Maroon and White. A 12-2 MSU run fueled by eight of Molinar's team-leading 26 points tied the game at 76-all with a mere 41 ticks left on the clock.
Resilient. Tough. Gritty. Call it what you want. Just make sure you give the credit where credit is due.
"We fought our way all the way back," Brooks said. "I think we're a really good team still, and we were close. We had a chance in the end."
Ultimately the Bulldogs couldn't polish off their furious comeback in victorious fashion as Minnesota scored the game's final five points. A Hump that'd been rocking for much of the afternoon didn't get the chance to explode into celebration.
Instead, the Mississippi State mood was understandably a bit somber when the final horn sounded. But understand, the disappointment was from the previous 40 minutes of basketball, not for what this team can ultimately be.
"Our guys will bounce back," Howland said. "We have good kids. They're going to be very disappointed about this because it was a great opportunity against a good Big Ten team that's very well coached. We didn't seize the opportunity, but we have a lot of basketball games coming up. We've got to learn from this and bounce back."
Molinar and Moore's postgame shootaround showed the Bulldogs refuse to waste time getting back on their feet.
This is a group full of individuals like Molinar and Moore – guys who have been around the block a time or two in college basketball. Molinar and center Tolu Smith have been through the wars the last several years in Starkville. Moore, Brooks, Rocket Watts and D.J. Jeffries all brought with them backgrounds playing big-time hoops when they transferred to MSU in the offseason. Experience dealing with disappointing losses is in abundance for State.
Considering such, as tough as Sunday was, it wasn't a stumbling block for a promising year. Not at all. Instead, the Bulldogs see it as quite the opposite.
"It's part of it," Brooks said. "It's just learning and growing together. It's still early in the season. We're only a quarter of a way through the season pretty much. I think [Sunday is] just going to be a steppingstone for us to get better."
