Memphis dropped their second home game of the season to Mississippi State 79-66 in what was the most lopsided home loss of the Penny Hardaway era. Mississippi St. controlled this entire game and got up by as many as 24 points.
It was a sloppy affair for Memphis, who turned it over 18 times and let Mississippi St. shoot 10/25 from deep. In addition, Memphis was cold from deep for the second game in a row, going 8/27 from deep and 16/50 from the field. They had more turnovers than made shots, and that describes the game pretty well.
Memphis was led by PJ Haggerty’s 24 points and Tyrese Hunter’s 19 points, while Mississippi St. was led by Riley Kugel’s 19 points, but had 4 players in double figures in what was a pretty balanced affair from the Bulldogs.
Here’s how it happened:
Another Bad First Half
Once again, the Tigers got off to a slow start, and this one was more extended than usual. After Tyrese Hunter hit a 3 to begin the game, Mississippi St. went on a 21-3 run, propelled by open court Memphis turnovers and hot shooting from behind the arc. This was a theme for the half, as Memphis finished the half with 12 turnovers, with 11 of them being in the open court. Mississippi St. also shot 9/18 from deep in this half.
The Bulldogs were led by Riley Kugel having 15 points on a perfect 6/6 shooting in the first half, while the Tigers were kept in shouting distance, if you can consider a 16 point halftime deficit that, by PJ Haggerty’s 16 points and by getting to the line 17 times.
Haggerty’s supporting cast did not do much of anything in the first half, as after Tyrese Hunter’s trey at the 19:01 mark, no Tiger not named PJ Haggerty scored until a PJ Carter three with 5:54 to go to cut into Mississippi St.’s largest lead of the half of 20 points.
Memphis showed signs of life, going on an 8-0 run to get the margin down to 12, but the Bulldogs extended it back out to 48-32 going into halftime
And a Not Better Second Half
For what has been a second half team, the pattern did not continue for them today. Their defense was much better in the second half, but the offense fell off a cliff, starting 3/16 from the field and 0/8 from deep.
At no point did Memphis really make a run at things, only getting it to 15 in the second half, save for a garbage time Baraka Okojie runner to get the final deficit to 13.
Mississippi St. totally shut Memphis down and never gave them any hope at all of coming back in this game.
No Depth Contributions
PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter scored 43 of Memphis’ 66 points, with no other Tiger scoring more than 7. Colby Rogers, after going 1/11 against UVA, went 0/8 from the field today, and Dain Dainja had as many turnovers as points.
Memphis’ role players were completely ineffective today, and the final score reflected as much.
What’s Next
Memphis returns to the FedExForum for a white-out against No. 17 Ole Miss on Saturday Dec 28 to close out their non-conference schedule.
