Video: MSU Men’s Basketball Falls To Georgia

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – Mississippi State struggled to consistently make shots in its 66-57 loss to Georgia at Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday.
MSU shot 30.9 percent from the floor and was held to a season-low total in points. Georgia led by 11 at halftime and stretched that lead to as many as 22 points midway through the second half.

Georgia improved to 14-9 overall and 7-5 in league play, while MSU fell to 10-14 and 3-9.

Quinndary Weatherspoon led MSU with 17 points, while Craig Sword had 13. Sword and Gavin Ware each had six rebounds, while I.J. Ready had four assists.

“It was frustrating (to not build on Tuesday’s win over Arkansas),” Weatherspoon said. “Our last two practices, we practiced hard. We come to practice and compete every day. Overall, we just have to keep fighting. We had a lot of open looks but we just didn’t make shots.

“We needed to attack more and we settled for jump shots.”

MSU never led in the contest. Georgia quickly grabbed a 10-5 lead and stretched that lead to six points at 16-10. An 8-0 run by Georgia stretched the lead to 30-17 with 2:09 left in the half.

Georgia shot 40.6 percent from the field in the first half and led 32-21 at the intermission.

“Give Georgia credit because they took it to us on both ends of the floor,” MSU head coach Ben Howland said. “The physicality Georgia brought tonight was a real problem for us. (Yante) Maten dominated the game tonight.

“It was frustrating after our last game to come back out here with this.”

In the second half, Georgia expanded the lead with the first six points. An 8-0 run ran the lead to 51-29 with 13:33 left in the contest.

MSU closed within 51-41 on a 10-0 run. Sword had back-to-back 3-point plays and Ware scored back-to-back baskets during the run.

Georgia extended the lead back to 19 before MSU ended the game on a 13-3 run.

For the contest, MSU hit 21 of 68 shots from the field (30.9 percent), 8 of 28 shots from 3-point range (28.6 percent) and 7 of 11 shots from the foul line (63.6 percent). Georgia hit 25 of 54 shots from the field (46.3 percent), 3 of 12 shots from 3-point range (25.0 percent) and 13 of 17 shots from the foul line (76.5 percent).

Georgia held a 45-35 rebounding advantage. MSU had 11 assists and nine turnovers, while Georgia had nine assists and 20 turnovers.

Georgia received a career-high 25 points from Maten and a season-high 21 points from Charles Mann.

MSU concludes its three-game homestand by playing host to Vanderbilt Tuesday. The Bulldogs and Commodores tip at 8 p.m. on the SEC Network.