Mississippi State basketball remains winless on road after frustrating loss to Florida
By Ethan Lee
Wednesday evening, Chris Jans and the Mississippi State men's basketball team once again came up short in a tough road battle. The Mississippi State Bulldogs fell flat against the Florida Gators in Gainesville as MSU fell 70-79. As a result, Mississippi State is still winless when it comes to road contests.
The Bulldogs struggled shooting the ball and really looked inept on offense throughout the first half, allowing Florida to build enough of a lead that Mississippi State wouldn't be able to overcome.
And that's even with a stellar showing from Josh Hubbard. Although the freshman sensation wasn't exactly the most efficient shooter ever, he led all scorers and was one of just two Mississippi State Bulldogs to score in the double digits of this game.
Without Hubbard scoring 26 points on 9-25 shooting (including 5-17 from behind the three-point line), Mississippi State would have been completely and totally blown out of this game. The Bulldogs wouldn't have had a shot.
Still, this loss is pretty rough.
Mississippi State basketball: Bulldogs fall flat against Florida Gators in Gainesville
Mississippi State is winless in road games and the fact that the Bulldogs, as a team, shot just 38.7 percent overall and and a dismal 24.2 percent from three point range. Outside of Hubbard, only one other Bulldog scored in double figures and that was Tolu Smith, who had just 10 points.
Meanwhile, the Florida Gators had a more balanced offensive attack as four players scored in double digits. Will Richard managed to lead the home team as he scored 23 points on an efficient 8-15 shooting performance.
And as a team? Well, while the Bulldogs struggled in shooting, Florida hit 42.2 percent of their shots in this game and made 17 of 20 free throw attempts. The Gators had 15 fast break points compared to MSU's nine.
UF was just simply better in Gainesville than the Bulldogs happened to be.
Mississippi State is now 13-6 overall and 2-4 in SEC play. The Bulldogs sit towards the bottom of the SEC standings and desperately need to find a way to get some momentum and wins moving forward. MSU's next game is against the Auburn Tigers on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. in Starkville.