Three numbers that explain Mississippi State’s loss to Ole Miss

Mississippi State’s slow start and costly mistakes led to a 93-68 loss at Ole Miss, marking the Bulldogs’ fifth straight defeat in the rivalry.

Mississippi State Forward Madison Francis (#40) during the game between the Ole Miss Rebels and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion in Oxford, MS. | Mississippi State Athletics

At one point in the recent history of women’s basketball, Mississippi State dominated Ole Miss on the court.

Those Vic Shaeffer-led Bulldogs weren’t just dominating the Rebels; it was against the whole country. But the times have changed and Ole Miss is the dominant team in the Magnolia State, as shown in Sunday’s 93-68 contest in Oxford.

Here are three big statistical reasons for why Mississippi State lost to Ole Miss for a fifth-straight time.

16

That’s how many turnovers Mississippi State committed in Sunday’s loss.

The turnovers were pretty evenly split between the two halves, but the Bulldogs opened the game with turnovers on their first four possessions.

“Whenever we got to that first media break, I told the team that we couldn't have played any worse,” Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell said. “We didn't come out with an attack mindset.”

That’s not a great recipe for success and it gets worse when seeing Ole Miss scored 19 points off of turnovers. Take those away and the Rebels win by just six points.

A rivalry game with the score that close late, Mississippi State might’ve been able to pull off the upset.

48-30

That’s the points in the paint total for Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

A lot of the times the Bulldogs got a pass inside, close to the basket, there were multiple defenders looking to block, steal or tie up the ball. Anything to force a change of possession. (See previous stat for why that’s important.)

On the other side of the court, Ole Miss made it a priority to attack in the paint. That came with Cotie McMahon driving to the basket and Christeen Iwuala having a near-perfect shooting day from down low. Iwuala was 7-of-9 for 14 points.

“I thought we lost our scouting report defense in the second quarter,” Purcell said. “Kids who want to go left, we let them go that way. We were supposed to be blitzing, especially on Cotie McMahon, but she was catching the ball, and that's something we have to address.”

The Bulldogs aren’t the biggest or tallest team and Ole Miss took advantage.

23.5

Mississippi State didn’t have a great shooting night with just a 41 percentage from the field. However, the number above is the bulldogs’ field goal percentage in the third quarter.

Mississippi State was 4-of-17 on field goals in the third quarter that began with the Rebels leading by 15 points. The game may have already been decided by halftime, but the Bulldogs’ third quarter shooting made sure of it.

“We missed too many baskets around the rim,” Purcell said. “I felt like when they made them great shots early, it affected us. We have a lot of new pieces, but I think this team has to learn that there are no ten-point shots when they are playing on the road. You have to chip away and make sure those things like missed layups and missed assignments don't occur in the second and third quarter.”

Things aren’t going to get any easier for Mississippi State this week. It’ll continue its run of games against ranked opponents with No. 7 Vanderbilt on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum and on SEC Network.