Mississippi State has lost three of four games since climbing above .500 in Southeastern Conference play.
“We’re not perfect players,” Bulldogs guard Shawn Jones Jr. said. “We’re not going to win all of them.”
Still, the No. 25 Bulldogs know it would behoove them to prevail in Saturday’s regular-season finale at Arkansas in Fayetteville as they aim to solidify their NCAA Tournament standing and conference tournament seeding.
Mississippi State (20-10, 8-9 SEC) pledged to move past the missed opportunities that mounted during the 87-82 overtime loss at home to Texas on Tuesday.
“Our locker room was very somber, to say the least,” Bulldogs coach Chris Jans said. “We’ve lost plenty of games this year, but that was a hard one to swallow for us.”
The game offered positives just the same. Leading scorer Josh Hubbard (18.3) contributed a team-best 16 points to reach double figures for the 15th straight game.
Another encouraging sign for the stretch run: Riley Kugel grabbed a season-best seven rebounds and scored 12 points for the second straight game on the heels of a challenge from his coach.
“He was first to the floor a couple times for some loose balls that I just don’t ever remember him doing,” Jans said. “I’ve been on him about it, and he showed people his strength in his core and his athleticism and his fight. He was defending.”
Arkansas (18-12, 7-10) remains an NCAA Tournament bubble team in various projections. The Razorbacks moved into 11th place in the SEC with Tuesday’s 90-77 victory at Vanderbilt, which stopped a three-game road losing streak.
The Razorbacks have won three straight at home entering Saturday, including a 92-85 victory against then-No. 15 Missouri on Feb. 22.
The game wasn’t without its setbacks, though. The Razorbacks lost forward Adou Thiero (left knee) to injury during the second half. Thiero, the team’s leading scorer (15.6) and rebounder (6.0), has missed the past three games and his status for Saturday is uncertain.
Given the opportunity to step up, Trevon Brazile seized the moment. The Razorbacks hope Brazile maintains the momentum from his 16-point, 14-rebound performance Tuesday. Both were season highs after Brazile, a 6-foot-10 junior forward, had just two points in the team’s previous game, a loss at South Carolina.
“I’m happy for Trevon,” Razorbacks coach John Calipari said. “It’s been an up-and-down road, but I keep telling him, ‘You got stuff that a normal guy doesn’t have. Now bring it.'”
Brazile’s blend of size and long-range shooting ability can create matchup problems when he’s clicking. With Johnell Davis also starting to regain his form — he had 21 points Tuesday to lead the team in scoring for the first time since Feb. 5 — Arkansas is eager to close the regular season strong after a disastrous beginning to league play.
“Starting 0-5, that’s some adversity you gotta go through,” Brazile said. “And we went through that and got better from it.”
–Field Level Media
