Mississippi State thought it reached a top for the stretch driving after recording on each other the following two -digit victories against ranked teams.
Then the bulldogs went on the road and lost to Oklahoma before being routed by No. 6 Alabama on Tuesday.
No. 24 Mississippi State (19-9, 7-8 Southeastern Conference) will try to get back on track when it is facing LSU on Saturday afternoon in Starkville, Miss.
“We felt that we met our step and that we had thought of it,” Bulldog coach Chris Jans said about a victory 81-71 at the then. 19 Ole Miss on February 15 and a 70-54 home victory against then no. 7 Texas A&M on February 18th.
“We played better than we were before, and the atmosphere was really good,” Jans added.
Then a loss of 93-87 came to the unauthorized Sooners on Saturday and a setback of 111-73 to Crimson Tide where Jans said that Mississippi State “took a left turn.”
“We got too comfortable with the two victories,” said forward RJ Melendez. “I feel that our connection has not been as strong the last two games as it had been. … We have to move on to the next and focus on LSU because every single game is important at this point.”
The bulldogs have lost five of their last eight matches, and six of their Sec losses have come against teams that were ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 at the time of the game.
“You have to take care of the opportunities you get,” Jans said. “You must be able to pull your person from the ground and regroup. You must understand that you cannot let it turn into a snowball effect.
“There are probably more teams in our league that have the last four potential than in history for any league just because of the numbers that have all set up and the quality of teams we have this year.”
LSU’s last two matches were home losses for teams with the last four potential. The tigers fell to No. 5 Tennessee 65-59 on Tuesday, three days after losing to No. 2 Florida 79-65.
“In order for us to win (Tuesday’s) game or Saturday’s game, we needed to shoot the ball well from 3 and cut down the second chance,” said Tigers coach Matt McMahon. “We couldn’t do that.”
LSU shot 7 out of 27 on 3-score and was surpassed 27-8 on other chance points against the volunteers. Against the streets, the tigers made 9 out of 31 from 3-point intervals and were outscored 17-8 on second chance points.
McMahon called Tennessee advantage in second chance point “The difference in the game.”
“Our field target defense (41.1 percent) was really good enough to give us a chance,” McMahon said, “but when you play against a team that will claim to go to Final Four, you cannot give up so many other opportunities.”
The tigers dragged with 15 points with 3:24 left before quitting a 13-4 run.
“I think we do it for ourselves many times,” said guard Cam Carter. “We will just take these mistakes and then fix them and carry them to the next game and just keep getting better.”
-Field level media
