Mississippi State
12-7,1-6SEC
Florida
11-8,4-3SEC
Big Comeback Falls Short as Dawgs Drop Heartbreaker To Florida
January 21, 2023 | Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State erased a 16-point deficit and had a chance to tie or win the game at the final buzzer, but the Bulldogs ultimately dropped a heartbreaker to Florida by a score of 61-59 on Saturday night at Humphrey Coliseum.
D.J. Jeffries missed a potential game-tying jumper with two seconds remaining and Cameron Matthews' putback attempt was unsuccessful as the Gators held on.
"In the end, our loved ones are going to hug us and tell us, 'Way to fight back,'" MSU head coach Chris Jans said. "Well, I'd hope so. I'd hope that we'd continue to fight and scratch and try to find a way to win the game. That's what you're supposed to do. That's what you do. But we just dug ourselves a hole and we were playing uphill the entire night. So yeah, we're disappointed."
The Bulldogs trailed 33-17 late in the first half but stayed in the fight. MSU began a furious comeback by closing the contest's initial period on a 7-0 run to close its deficit to nine and grab momentum headed into the intermission.
In the second half, MSU continued to surge. Dashawn Davis hit a 3-pointer to pull the score even at 40-all with 12 minutes remaining.
Things remained close before Florida sank a pair of shots from long distance with under five minutes to play to stretch its lead back out to 10. However, State didn't go away.
MSU got back within two on a Davis trey with 1:28 left on the clock. Unfortunately for State, Davis' shot accounted for the game's final points.
Jeffries brought down a rebound on the defensive end with 11 seconds remaining to give the Dawgs the opportunity for late heroics, but State didn't take advantage.
Tolu Smith finished with 12 points for MSU. He also notched a double-double for the third straight game and 18th time in his career as he collected 11 rebounds.
Shakeel Moore also scored 12 for State. Will McNair, Jr. added 10. Matthews tallied eight and brought down 11 boards.
Yet none of it was enough for the Dawgs, who'll look to regroup ahead of another tough matchup just ahead. MSU returns to action on Wednesday with an 8 p.m. game at Alabama.
"It's a real frustrated group of guys," Matthews said of his team after Saturday's game. "We work too hard to be getting this close every game. We know these are teams we can beat, we've just got to get back to the drawing board and figure some things out and get back right."
