Mississippi State
12-4,1-3SEC
Georgia
12-4,2-1SEC
MSU Drops Road Tilt At Georgia
January 11, 2023 | Men's Basketball
ATHENS, Ga. – In a low-scoring battle, Mississippi State came up short on Wednesday night as MSU fell 58-50 to Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum.
State led by four with just under 10 minutes to play and had things tied at 44 with 4:45 left, however with 3:45 remaining, a pair of Georgia free throws gave the Bulldogs of Athens a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
"When you're on the road, there's always pivotal possessions [and] there's always pivotal shots for both teams," State head coach Chris Jans said. "Under four [minutes] to play, it was going to come down to making some big plays. We had some great looks. We had guys shooting the ball we wanted to shoot the ball. We had some offensive rebounds and kickouts, and we didn't knock them down. They are shots that when you watch the game of basketball unfold, you expect that ball to go in and we just didn't. We didn't make the critical shots at critical times down the stretch and it got away from us a little bit and they made their free throws down the stretch to keep us at bay."
Shooting from the charity stripe proved to be a decisive factor in the game. MSU was 7-of-22 from the foul line. Meanwhile Georgia was boosted by making 25 of its 31 free-throw attempts.
Neither team found much success from the field. State shot 29.5 percent as a team, while Georgia was only a touch better at 29.8 percent.
"At the end of the day, to win on the road, you've got to make crucial baskets down the stretch when it's a possession game and [Georgia] did," Jans said. "Give Georgia a lot of credit. They made the shots when they counted. If you'd have told me before the game we'd have nine turnovers in the game and 14 offensive rebounds, I'd have said, 'I like our chances' but unfortunately it wasn't enough."
Shakeel Moore paced MSU offensively. He scored a team-high 15 points highlighted by a trio of 3-pointers. D.J. Jeffries added 10 points for State. Cameron Matthews added eight points, just missing out on a double-double as he also brought down a team-best 10 rebounds.
Mississippi State will attempt to bounce back on Saturday with a road contest against Auburn. The Bulldogs and Tigers are set for a 7:30 p.m. tip at Neville Arena. The game will be televised by SEC Network.
