The rivalry between Mississippi State and Ole Miss is historic enough but an extra wrinkle in this contest makes things even more riveting. The back-to-back SEC Freshman Player of the Week, Josh Hubbard, is a star for MSU, but State was not his first choice. His original commitment to play basketball was in Oxford before its former head coach, Kermit Davis, was fired. Now he has blossomed into a scoring threat for all of the SEC to pay attention to in Starkville.Â
What: Mississippi State Bulldogs (14-6, 3-4 SEC) versus Ole Miss Rebels (17-3, 4-3 SEC)
Where: The Sandy and John Black Pavilion, Oxford, Mississippi
TV: SEC Network
When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Central
Ole Miss Starting Five
Jaylen Murray
Allen Flanigan
Matthew Murrell
Jaemyn Brakefield
Moussa Cisse
Mississippi State Starting Five
Shakeel Moore
Josh HubbardÂ
D.J. JefferiesÂ
Tolu Smith III
Cameron Matthews
First Half
Matthews opens the game by scoring a shot off a missed rebound. MSU leads 2-0.
Josh finishes a spinning layup with the foul and finishes the and-one play. MSU leads 5-0.
Ole Miss scores a 3-pointer to open their scoring. MSU leads 5-3.Â
Second chance layup for Ole Miss. They tie the game 5-5.Â
Jefferies scores his first points of the game with a corner three. MSU leads 8-5.
Murray finishes a difficult shot for Ole Miss. MSU leads 8-7.
Smith gets fouled and sent to the line. He makes both of his free throws. MSU leads 10-7.Â
Brandon Murray scores a mid-range shot for Ole Miss. MSU leads 10-9.
The rebels scored a layup off a turnover from State. Ole Miss leads 11-10.
Jimmy Bell enters the game and gets fouled and sent to the line and makes both. MSU leads 12-11.Â
Mathews can’t hold on to the ball from a quick pass and Ole Miss gets fouled and scores on the fast break. Ole Miss leads 14-12.Â
Hubbard checks back into the game and scores an up. Ole Miss runs down and scores a 3-pointer. Ole Miss leads 17-14.Â
Matthews finishes a layup from a pass from Hubbard. Ole Miss continues to score in the medium. Ole Miss leads 19-16.Â
Matthews scores in the paint on back-to-back possessions from Hubbard passes. MSU leads 20-19. Â
Moores gets fouled and sent to the free-throw line. He makes both. MSU leads 22-19.Â
Murrell gets fouled and sent to the line. He makes one of two. MSU leads 22-20.Â
Hubbard finishes a smooth euro-step to the basket for a layup. MSU leads 24-20.
Hubbard hits a three in transition. MSU leads 27-20.
Ole Miss responds with a 3-pointer of its own. MSU leads 27-23.Â
Hubbard hits another 3-pointer and has 13 points in the half so far. MSU leads 30-23.
Ole Miss finishes over an MSU defender. MSU leads 30-25.
Dashawn Davis finishes a difficult shot at the rim. MSU leads 32-25.
Ole Miss hits a three but Moore answers with a layup in the paint. MSU leads 34-28.Â
Brakefield gets fouled and finishes the layup over Matthews. He gets sent to the line and makes his free throw. MSU leads 34-31.
Murrell hits a three to tie the game. The game is tied 34-34.Â
Hubbard gets fouled and finishes in the paint. He finishes his free throw. MSU leads 37-34.
Murrell finishes a jumper in the paint. MSU leads 37-36.
Shawn Jones Jr. finishes a second chance layup off a Smith miss. MSU leads 39-36.
Murray finishes the half for Ole Miss with a three. The game is tied going into half 39-39.Â
For the Bulldogs, turnovers are the reason that the game is tied. Nine in the first half and only four for the Rebels. MSU has started to hit its free-throws which have been inconsistent for most of the season. They look to continue in the same way in the second half and start getting Smith involved to balance out the scoring load alongside Hubbard.
Second Half
Ole Miss opens the half with a dunk and a foul. They miss the free throw. Ole Miss leads 41-39.
Hubbard misses a floater and Ole Miss finishes in transition. Ole Miss leads 43-39.
The turnovers continue to pill up for the Bulldogs as Ole Miss finishes off another MSU turnover. Ole Miss leads 45-39.
Smith gets fouled and sent to the line. He makes both free throws. Ole Miss leads 45-41.
Brakefield hits a three from a Murell assist. Ole Miss leads 48-41.Â
Another three for Ole Miss and they lead 51-51.
Outside of the free throws made by Smith, MSU opened the first five minutes of the second half scoreless.
Smith gets fouled and goes one of two. Ole Miss hits a jumper. Ole Miss leads 53-42.
Davis ends the scoring drought but a response by Ole Miss with a three of its own. Ole Miss L leads 56-45
Davis gets fouled and finishes an and-one. Ole Miss leads 56-48
Alley Oop from Hubbard to Matthews off a turnover. Ole Miss leads 56-50.
Murray answers with a layup and gets a foul on the next possession. Ole Miss leads 60-50.Â
Moore makes a jumper off a Jones Jr. assist. Ole Miss leads 60-52.
Caldwell makes a jumper to push the lead back to 10. Ole Miss leads 62-52.
Moore makes a three off of a Bell Jr. pass. Ole Miss leads 62-55.Â
Murray gets fouled by Moore and gets sent to the free throw line and splits his shots. Only Miss leads 63-55.
Matthews finishes a dunk to close the gap but Ole Miss grabs an offensive board and finishes at the rim. Ole Miss leads 65-57
Smith has started to wake up and grabs an offensive rebound, makes the shot while also getting fouled. Ole Miss leads 65-59.
Murrell finishes in the paint for Ole Miss. Ole Miss leads 67-59.
Back and forth the game goes with each team scoring layups and an MSU three with little defense being played. Going into the media timeout, Ole Miss leads 71-66.
Hubbard returns to his scoring ways by hitting another three. Ole Miss leads 71-69.
Murrell finds his way into a corner and hits a three and Moore on the other end finishes with a layup. Ole Miss leads 74-71.
Matthews goes coast to coast and finishes at the rim. Ole Miss leads 74-73.
Ole Miss gets fouled and is now in the bonus. The Rebels make both. Ole Miss leads 76-73.Â
Davis is having a strong game and finishes at the rim. Ole Miss leads 76-75.
Ole Miss responds with a three and extends its lead. Ole Miss leads 79-75.
Hubbard gets fouled and sent to the line. He makes both to cut the lead. Ole Miss leads 79-77.
It’s a slugfest for both teams. They each trade 3-pointers under 1:30 left in the game. Ole Miss leads 82-80.
Miscommunication between MSU and it leads to an easy layup for Ole Miss. Ole Miss leads 84-80.
Goltending by Ole Miss on Davis’s layup. Ole Miss leads 84-82 with under one minute remaining.
Matthews gets fouled and sent to the free throw line to tie the game with 4.1 seconds left in the game.Â
Matthews misses both free throws while airballing the intentional miss. Ole Miss hits its free throws to close the game.Â
Final: Mississippi State 82, Ole Miss 86.Â
Â
Â