South Carolina hopes to turn the tide in Mississippi
The State of Mississippi achieved an impressive victory in a season disappointing in its most recent performance.
South Carolina will try to save something similar from its disappointing season by taking on the Bulldogs in a Southeast Conference game on Wednesday night in Starkville, Miss.
Mississippi State (12-11, 6-8 SEC) had lost six of its last seven conference games when it hit the road and ended Ole Miss’s four-game winning streak with a 66-56 win last Saturday.
“We never gave up and kept the same energy,” said Iverson Molinar, who scored 12 of his 17 high points in the second half against Ole Miss. “It is not a good situation to have a losing streak.
“So we are fighting within ourselves to continue to improve in areas where we have made mistakes in previous games.”
Bulldogs limited rebels to 38.2 percent field shots, including 26.3 percent at three points.
“I thought we played very well in defense,” said Mississippi State coach Ben Howland. “I thought we set the tone early in the game.”
South Carolina (5-11, 3-9) lost their fifth consecutive game, 93-78 at home to the then null. 20 Missouri on Saturday. The skid started with a 75-59 home loss to the Bulldogs on February 6, but the Gamecocks still hope to accomplish something significant at the end of the season.
“The season is not over yet,” said Gamecocks’ Trae Hannibal, who made all six attempts to score and scored 15 points against Missouri. “So, we just have to keep going a lot, and we just have to keep the energy positive. I think this week, we are going to reverse that.”
South Carolina has just three more games scheduled before the SEC tournament.
Coach Frank Martin said it is “very, very frustrating” that his team is no longer competitive.
“We don’t make contested layups, we don’t make contested moves,” he said. “When the ball is balanced, it’s there, go get it. We just didn’t make those moves.
“For 35 years, my players never got out of the way. We got out of the way this year.”
– Field-level media