5 Key Takeaways from Mississippi State’s 84-81 Win Over Ole Miss

5. Mississippi State has to slow down on the turnovers

It's starting to become a bit of a problem.

Mississippi State was fantastic all year with the assist-to-turnover ratio, and it's been able to usually dominate the turnover battle, but this is yet another game when mistakes turned out to be on the wrong side.

Auburn turned the season-high 16 Bulldog turnovers into a rout to make it four games in six with double-digit turnovers. Against Ole Miss, everything else went fine but the 15 turnovers were the second-most this season - granted, it went into overtime - and Ole Miss only gave up ten.

4. The block, the rebound, the three, the game

It might turn out to be the biggest moment in Mississippi State's season, depending on what happens from here on.

The Bulldogs were were down 77-76 with under two minutes left to play in overtime, Ole Miss had an apparently easy bucket, RJ Melendez flew in for the block, KeShawn Murphy got the rebound, moved it down the court in a hurry, got it to Riley Kugel, and ...

Bang.

79-77 State, and it would never trail again.

Oh did it get hairy there for a bit, it was way too close for comfort with the team up five with four seconds to go, but that one sequence meant everything.

3. Mississippi State dominated on the boards

The Rebels were quick, they forced errors, and they managed to score off a slew of the steals and big defensive plays. However, they couldn't get on the glass.

Mississippi State had a tremendous size advantage, and it was a bit more active when needed to clean things up outrebounding Ole Miss 51 to 29 with a whopping 19 rebounds. The team doesn't want to have to rely on that going forward, but when it had to get the board, it did it.

DAWGS WIN!#HailState🐶 pic.twitter.com/ByJpfEZM2p
— Mississippi State Men's Basketball (@HailStateMBK) January 19, 2025

2. The threes were back ... sort of

Auburn's defense had a little bit to do with it, but Mississippi State couldn't buy an outside shot in the road loss earlier this week hitting just 3-of-24 from three. This isn't a high-powered team from three, but it can't be awful and get by in the SEC.

It wasn't always easy from the outside against a strong Ole Miss defense. They weren't dropping enough in the first half, but overall Riley Kugel came on and hig several big shots, the team connected on 9-of-27, and the defense stepped up large in the overtime forcing the Rebels to miss all four of their threes, and now ...

1. Mississippi State got the win it HAD to have

Go ahead and exhale, Mississippi State - but you get just a few minutes to relax.

Ater the wild loss to Kentucky, and the blowout loss to Auburn, Mississippi State desperately needed to slow down the skid, and it had to happen here.

Up next is a trip to Tennessee, who won't be in a good mood after losing to Vanderbilt. At South Carolina should be a win, but it's a third road game in four dates. And then Alabama comes to town, Missouri, at Georgia, Florida, at Ole Miss ...

There isn't a break in the bunch.

So yes, it might have been dramatic, and it might have taken overtime, but it's a W, Mississippi State is 3-2 in the SEC, and the pressure has been relieved a wee bit.