We've reached halftime for Mississippi State basketball's first round NCAA Tournament matchup against the Baylor Bears. It's a classic, tightly-contested 8/9 game, as the 8-seed Bulldogs are trailing 9-seed Baylor 37-32 at the break.
So far, there's been two main stories of the first half for Mississippi State. Firstly, Josh Hubbard is having himself an incredible game. The Bulldogs' leader has come to play, leading all scorers with 14 points on 6-10 shooting. Right now, he's carrying Mississippi State, and if not for two fouls he'd likely have more.
The other story though has been rebounding, or rather, Mississippi State's lack thereof. And Bulldog fans are pleading for their team to fix that issue.
Poor rebounding is costing Mississippi State against Baylor, and Bulldog fans are begging for that to change
Baylor owned the glass over Mississippi State in the first half. Their +2 margin, 20 compared to State's 18, doesn't even begin to describe how much better the Bears are doing grabbing rebounds. Baylor has nine offensive rebounds, and those extra opportunities have led to 12 second chance points.
Those second chance points allowed are easily the biggest reason Mississippi State trails at the break. State is shooting 46.2% compared to just 39.4% for Baylor. The Bulldogs have been the better team from three. But they're giving Baylor extra chances, and the Bears are making them pay.
Mississippi State fans have about had enough of it...
Would love to get a rebound. Those are pretty cool!!!
— Jeff Le🅱️🅱️y’s 🅱️urner™️ (@Lebby_Burner) March 21, 2025
— Tru Maroon Nation (@TruMaroonNation) March 21, 2025
If you listen closely you can hear Mississippi State fans screaming REBOUND all across the south in their cubicles
— Noah Mashburn (@Noah_Mashburn) March 21, 2025
The most surprising thing about this is that Mississippi State, on paper, should have the edge rebounding. Baylor's tallest player stands at just 6-7 and has several smaller guards. Four of the Bulldogs' main rotation players are at least 6-7 (three are taller) and even with the smaller Hubbard out there, they've got more size in their backcourt too.
Baylor is simply outworking them for rebounds, and that can't continue if State is going to get a win. There are other issues for State. Turnovers, fouls, and free throw shooting are all working against the Bulldogs currently. The little things, things that mostly come down to effort, are hurting Mississippi State. They've got to turn that around in the second half.