Mississippi State Survives South Carolina: 5 Takeaways from the OT Win

Mississippi State 65, South Carolina 60 OT

5. Mississippi State with a survive and advance game

Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.  

No, it’s not great, yes, it’s still looking for its first win of the SEC season, but South Carolina was a potential problem.

It pushed Florida and Vanderbilt, and gave Auburn all it could handle - three of the last four losses were by three points or fewer.

It was a Saturday afternoon road game in the SEC, and Mississippi State got the win, but …

4. Mississippi State is playing with fire

Yeah, it was a win, but out of the last five games in the SEC that’s three losses and two overtime wins. The 16-4 record is still strong, and there’s no real worry about getting into the NCAA Tournament, but this should’ve been easier.

The Bulldogs were terrific for the first 34 minutes on both ends of the floor, but they were up 14 and blew it.

The offense couldn’t stop screwing up, the defense struggled when the Gamecocks started chipping away, and this is where the team gets credit. Mississippi State gacked away a monster lead, and it had the poise to get through the overtime with relative ease.

That’s what happens when you hit your free throws.

ROAD DUB!#HailState🐶 pic.twitter.com/sVgNVWe85I
— Mississippi State Men's Basketball (@HailStateMBK) January 25, 2025

3. It was a balanced day from the Mississippi State offense

Five Bulldogs finished in double-digits led by Riley Kugel’s 15 points off the bench - once again he was a spark hitting three from three and nailing all four of his field goals. There was decent offense inside and out, but it stalled late.

This should’ve been easier because …

2. The Mississippi State defense was terrific

South Carolina only hit 29% from the field, the Bulldogs clamped down hard from three, and the D stopped Gamecock star Collin Murray-Boyles for a second straight time. They kept him to five points in the first blowout win, and allowed just ten points in this.

So the O was balanced, the D was good … what was the problem?

1. Mississippi State was awful on the boards

South Carolina missed a ton, but it made up for it with WAY too many second chance points.

The Gamecocks outrebounded the Bulldogs 45-30 with a whopping 21 not he offensive glass. By a mile, those were the most offensive boards Mississippi State allowed this season - it only gave up more than ten three times, and only more than 12 once - it gave up 17 against Georgia State.

The team got away with it in this, but it won’t be able to do that against Alabama or Missouri up next. On the plus side, the Bulldogs get three of the next four games at home.