The NCAA tournament rematch didn’t go as planned for Mississippi State men’s basketball.
After a dismal offensive output in its season opener, MSU fine-tuned its free throw shooting and scoring output en route to shooting 57.4 percent from the field and 15-of-19 from the charity stripe against Liberty Thursday in the Space Coast Challenge in Melbourne, Fla.
The problem was, the perimeter defense went by the wayside, as the Flames converted a school record 19 3-pointers to sink the Bulldogs 84-73 in the first matchup between the two teams since Liberty’s 80-76 victory in the 2019 NCAA tournament.
With the loss, MSU starts a season 0-2 for the first time since the 1967-1968 season.
“I thought (Liberty) did a good job penetrating and kicking out,” MSU coach Ben Howland said postgame … “They shot the hell out of it tonight, give them credit.”
The Flames came out of the gate on fire, converting their first five shots taken, all of them 3-pointers.
At halftime, MSU had almost as many points as it scored the entire night Wednesday, as it took a 41-40 lead into the break. The Bulldogs scored 41 points, 26 of which came in the paint, without the benefit of a single 3-pointer and made 11 of 13 free throws. But the Bulldogs were outscored 44-32 in the second half.
“I think both teams we lost to in the start of the season will be in the NCAA tournament at the end of the day,” Howland said. “I would be surprised if Clemson and Liberty are not in the NCAA tournament. We were planning on having four games under our belt prior to getting here. We had a chance to pull out of (the Space Coast Challenge) and use COVID as a reason, but I didn’t think that was the right thing to do. Our young guys will grow from it, and we’ll improve.”
Four Bulldogs were in double figures, including Tolu Smith and D.J. Stewart, both who had a team-high 20 points. Abdul Ado chipped in 14 points, while freshman Deivon Smith scored 10. Stewart, who typically rotates between the three and two positions, had to handle shifts at point guard due to the absence of Iverson Molinar, who was unavailable for a second straight game due to an undisclosed reason.
“He’s played minutes at the point which we typically expect to go to Iverson and Deivon, it was something he’s not used to and you can see there were times where he was just trying to remember to come back and get the ball as a point,” Howland said. “We played him too many minutes, to be honest. Not having Iverson here puts a heavy amount of weight on his shoulders.
MSU has its home opener against Texas State at 7 p.m. Monday at Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs’ next three contests will all be in Starkville.
“We have to grow up here in a hurry,” Howland said.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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