Mississippi State
Florida
Postgame Notes & Recap: MSU at Florida
January 19, 2022 | Men's Basketball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mississippi State led for much of the game but couldn't hold on late and ultimately lost an 80-72 decision on the road at Florida on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs led by as many as 10 points in the first half and held a 41-35 advantage at halftime. However, the Gators rallied down the stretch to come away with the win.
Three Mississippi State players reached double figures in scoring, led by Shakeel Moore. The sophomore guard put up his second-highest point total of the season as he scored 18 points, half of which came courtesy of a trio of shots from long range.
Tolu Smith also finished with a strong night for the Bulldogs. After not collecting a single point or rebound in the first half, the MSU center responded by scoring 17 and bringing down six boards over the final 20 minutes.
Reigning Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, Iverson Molinar, scored 12 points to keep alive his streak of tallying 10 or more in every game this season. Molinar now sits only 17 points shy of 1,000 for his career.
Still, none of it was quite enough for State. Despite shooting at a 54 percent clip as a team, the Bulldogs struggled offensively over the game's closing minutes. It allowed the
Gators to take a second-half lead for the first time courtesy of a pair of free throws with only 4:58 to go, and MSU didn't climb back in front the rest of the way.
FROM THE BENCH - COACH HOWLAND
"Obviously, that was a very frustrating second half and loss to be up six [at halftime] and have things going our way at the half. We were up eight with the ball and about eight minutes left. We threw away the ball away, and they made a layup. Then, we gave the ball away again off a bad shot combating their press instead of having composure. We didn't do a good job in the last eight minutes of this game. We've got to do a better job about recognizing the time and score. We shouldn't have had any worry with an eight-point lead and trying to turn that into 10 [in transition]. We should have just been smart and taken better care of the basketball."
[We had] 10 turnovers in the second half. They scored 24 points off our 16 total turnovers this game. That's a huge stat. Another huge stat was [Florida's Anthony] Duruji having 18 points in the second half. He killed us. He's a great player who made a couple big three's and did good things for them. [Tyree] Appleby also played a good game and made some big shots for them. Give those two guys credit."
"Tolu did a great job for us in the second half, scoring all 17 of his points in the second half, but we had 14 out of the rest of the team. Apart from our 10 second half turnovers, they shot 54 percent from the field and 42 percent from three the whole game. We also fouled too much and gave them way too many free throws. Overall, they took 30, way too many fouls on our end."
"There's a lot left in front of us, but we don't want to gloss over the fact that we let up a great opportunity. We were up eight with less than eight to go and let it slip away. We can't afford to do that. We're going to be in some tight games. We've got to learn from it which is why we've got to watch and study it tomorrow as a group."
UP NEXT
Mississippi State returns home to wrap its annual two-game series with in-state rival, Ole Miss, on Saturday. Tip time is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT televised by ESPNU and streamed 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.
- Mississippi State had its three-game winning streak over Florida come to a close during tonight's 80-72 loss in Gainesville. The Gators lead the overall series, 66-52.
- The loss dropped the Maroon and White to 12-5, 3-2 SEC.
- The Bulldogs hit 17 of their 27 field goals inside the paint to claim a 34-20 advantage in paint points.
- Mississippi State outrebounded Florida, 31-23, and has won the battle of the boards in 15 of 17 games on the season.
- The Bulldogs took a 41-35 edge into halftime and held an eight-point lead, 61-53, during the second half. The Gators closed the game on a 27-12 run over the last 8:57.
- For the game, Mississippi State sank 27-of-50 from the floor. The Bulldogs drop to 7-1 when shooting over 50 percent this season.
Iverson Molinar
- Contributed 12 points, five assists and four rebounds.
- Extended his streak to 17 consecutive games in double figures to start the season.
- Marked his ninth game with five or more assists this season.
- Passed Horatio Webster (1997-98) to move into 41st place on the program's all-time scoring list.
- 17 points shy of reaching 1,000 for his career.
- Amassed a SEC season's best 18 points and knocked down a trio of three-pointers.
- Double digit points during five of his last seven games.
- Sank 5-of-5 at the charity stripe, hit 14 straight foul shots over his last two games.
- Recorded 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
- The fifth time in seven outings he's reached 10-plus points this season.
- Fired in all 17 points during the second half.
- Pulled down a team-leading six rebounds.
- Chipped in seven points and a pair of assists.
- Cameron Matthews and Rocket Watts tallied five points apiece to secure 10 of State's 14 points off the bench.
- Matthews tacked on five rebounds and three steals.
- Marked the eighth time this season and the 15th time in his career he's collected multiple steals.
