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Mississippi State can't get offense to click in season-opening loss to Clemson

Bulldogs shoot just 30 percent from the field in defeat

There were no illusions that Mississippi State would have an easy time replacing its four leading scorers from a season ago. Everyone knew it'd be difficult with Reggie Perry, Robert Woodard II, Tyson Carter and Nick Weatherspoon no longer in maroon and white. On Wednesday night in MSU's season opener, the Bulldogs found out just how much slack they have to pick up.

Starting a new-look lineup that included a pair of true freshmen, State struggled mightily offensively and lost 53-42 to Clemson at the Space Coast Challenge in Melbourne, Florida. The Bulldogs shot only 30 percent from the field and missed a whopping 19 free throws (8-of-27) in defeat. After the game, it was those misses from the charity stripe that really seemed to irk State head coach Ben Howland.

"Shooting 8-for-27 from the foul line is obviously atrocious and the key stat from the game," Howland said. "We’ve got to spend way more time on foul shooting because if we just make 75 percent of our shots, (that would've meant) that it’s a two-point game going in the last few minutes."

The free throw misses hurt, but it was far from the only flaw in MSU's game. The Bulldogs turned the ball over 19 times. Clemson's bench outscored State's 26-8.

The Tigers weren't exactly world beaters. The Bulldogs had a solid defensive performance, limiting Clemson to only 35 percent shooting. However it was enough for the Tigers.

"You can see how good Clemson was running their offense and being very good in their execution," Howland said.

There were bright spots for the Bulldogs, none bigger than forward Tolu Smith who saw his first action for MSU. Smith, a transfer to the Bulldogs from Western Kentucky who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, recorded his first career double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Still, Smith had troubles of his own. He shot just 6-of-12 from the free throw line and had a couple of turnovers.

"He knows and I know that he can play way better than he played," Howland said of Smith. "He’s going to be improving each and every opportunity out. He hasn’t played in two years because he redshirted last year, so it’s been a while for him. This was good for him to get out there...He did some really nice things for us, especially boarding the ball. Again, a double-double on his first outing, is a good first night.”

Smith and guard D.J. Stewart were the only Bulldogs to score in double figures. Both had a dozen points. True freshman Cameron Matthews scored eight in his MSU debut. No other State player tallied more than five.

It looked early on as though MSU might be headed towards a win. The Bulldogs began Wednesday's affair by scoring the contest's first seven points. However that was soon followed by a 17-4 Clemson run that saw the Tigers take control. State never led again and dropped its first-ever season opener of the Howland era. In fact, MSU had won its previous seven season openers before Wednesday.

It wasn't just bad news on the court for State. There was some off of it as well. Sophomore guard Iverson Molinar missed Wednesday's game for an undisclosed reason and he'll be out a little while longer as well. Howland said he expects Molinar to return in time for MSU's fourth game of the season, on December 4, against North Texas.

The Bulldogs have work to do before then though with a couple of other games. It starts on Thursday as MSU shoots for third place in the Space Coast Challenge. The Bulldogs square off against Liberty at 5 p.m. central. The game will be televised by CBS College Sports Network. When it tips, MSU will try to quickly put away the loss to the Tigers.

“It’s hard to have your first game be against a really good ACC team like Clemson," Howland said. "It was a learning experience that we’ve got to learn from in a hurry because we have another really tough team (Thursday) in Liberty. Liberty, as we know, is really well-coached. They have a great system. We’re going to have to do a really great job and try to come out of here with a win (Thursday) night.”

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