Bulldogs outlast Rebels in nailbiter on hardwood

• Mississippi State, needing a win after two straight losses, pulled out a victory over their in-state rivals, 84-81. The Bulldogs built a 14-point lead early in Saturday’s contest before Ole Miss scrapped back to send game to overtime.

Starkville, MS — In the grand scheme of things, the week was a win for both teams.

Cliché as it sounds, the season has to be considered a marathon, not a sprint. Mississippi State defeated Ole Miss 84-81 in overtime Saturday at sold-out Humphrey Coliseum.

It was loud and rocking as it usually is for this game. It would also be cliché to say The Pavilion will be that way for the rematch on Feb. 15. Maybe it will, but there’s something special about The Hump when State is good, and they are this year.

Even though they weren’t Tuesday night at No. 1 Auburn, where they fell way behind from the get-go and never recovered losing 88-66.

This time Riley Kugel’s 3-pointer with 1 minute, 35 seconds left in OT gave State the lead for good. Kugel missed the Auburn game with injuries. He led all scorers with 21 points Saturday and was 4-for-8 from 3.

“When you go into overtime never know what composure, makeup is going to be. I was glad our guys found a way,” MSU coach Chris Janes said.

In a sense, Ole Miss was playing with house money at State’s house, coming in after a 74-64 win at No. 4 Alabama, which won at Kentucky earlier Saturday.

It’s been a great start for the Rebels in the top-rated league in the NCAA’s conference net rankings. The league is imposing, and the two road trips could have humbled Ole Miss.

But they didn’t, not even as the Rebels were slapped around at the start Saturday, falling behind 18-4.

They fought, they scrapped. The Rebels didn’t tie the game in the second half until the 4:42 mark, then, again, on Matthew Murrell’s 3-pointer with nine seconds left. They didn’t lead until overtime.

They were dominated on the glass on both ends – finishing a whopping minus-22 in rebounding — as has been their unfortunate MO. But the other side of that has been defense, getting hands in passing lanes and forcing turnovers. The Rebels did some of that and got some of those possessions back.

Bulldogs Control Ole Miss Big Man

But State frustrated Ole Miss center Malik Dia, the Rebels’ hottest player since the start of conference play.

Dia had put up 21, 19 and 23 over the last three games. He was held to eight points in 18 minutes. His two 3-pointers were big in the second half, but he didn’t impact the game the way he has of late.

Consequently, the Bulldogs were plus-15 on the glass at halftime and had an 11-1 edge in offensive rebounds, nine second-chance points to zero for the Rebels.

Some of that happened after friendly bounces, like a Cam Matthews free throw that was so bad it long-bounced right to a teammate. Keyshawn Murphy took advantage of the lane spacing for a one-handed jam.

“Dia’s a talented guy. We needed a paint presence today. We didn’t need another guy out there shooting fade-aways. But this isn’t on Dia. It’s a team game,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said.

More of the game, however, was about State’s energy.

“We were certainly keenly aware of him,” Jans said. “He had our attention because of how well he’s been playing. He’s a hard guard.”

Worth the Price of Admission

Ole Miss climbed back by shooting 37.1 percent from 3, a figure that was higher before their last shots that could have extend play or won fell away.

These teams had 29 combined wins when the day began, and the game matched the hype.

If the nation watched, it was indeed entertained.

And the Bulldogs and Rebels did it without the finger-pointing and trash-talking sometimes prevalent in rivalry games. It wasn’t uncommon to see a blue shirt help a white shirt off the floor and vice versa. Other sports in the rivalry take note.

“Fighting back to get this game to overtime speaks a lot about our team, what we could be,” Beard said.

As good as Ole Miss was in the second half, it couldn’t outrun the bad start.

“The start of the game for us was unacceptable. We can’t dig a hole like that. Give them credit. They were the more physical team the first eight minutes. They were the tougher team, the more aggressive team early,” Beard said.

The game would have been a great get for the Rebels and would have created real momentum for another brutal week ahead. Texas A&M visits Wednesday, and Ole Miss is at Missouri Saturday.

It Just Meant More for State

But State needed the game. The Bulldogs needed to regain the frame of mind that’s a must-have to play winning basketball with swagger and confidence that can be so easily lost in a league that can steal it in a heartbeat.

The Bulldogs are at No. 6 Tennessee Tuesday, then play at last-place South Carolina, a team they thoroughly dominated that may be the closest thing the league offers to a break.

“I didn’t tell the team this was a must-win, but it certainly was for me internally. I don’t know if we’ve had a bigger must-win going into a game in my opinion, lost two on the road, gotta go on the road for two more,” Jans said.

Now they can approach the week with a sense of relief, not rest, but the affirmation that they are who they thought they were, with a nice inside-out mix, a physical hard-nosed team capable of something special in March.

Had they lost their edge against Ole Miss, had they been unprepared, the season could have gotten away from them.

It’s great for State that this first game was at The Hump. The Bulldogs played off their fans. They were more in control at sometimes than others, but they never trailed.

Ole Miss, meanwhile, no longer has that house money.

They’ve got to regain the edge.

They’ve got to find a way to compete better on the glass. They’ve lived these first weeks of SEC play by offsetting weak rebounding with forcing turnovers. Is that a workable model for the rest of the season? I doubt it.

Ole Miss Suffers First SEC Loss

The Rebels have beaten some good teams, conference teams, since their last loss, 87-70 at Memphis on Dec. 28.

Now they have to find a way to get back in step after a loss.

The league comes at you fast, and when you looked last Sunday at the six days ahead 1-1 looked like a good week for both of these teams.

They’ve both achieved it.

We’ll see if they can finish what they started this season.