Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Riley Kugel (2) drives to the basket in opposition to Memphis Tigers ahead Nicholas Jourdain (2) throughout the first half at FedExForum.
Wesley Hale-Imagn Photographs
The Mississippi State Bulldogs marched into FedExForum and dominated No. 21 Memphis from begin to end in a 79-66 victory on Saturday.
Massive time within the Ⓜ️#HailState pic.twitter.com/WNgBiZa6NT
— Mississippi State Males’s Basketball (@HailStateMBK) December 21, 2024
The win for Mississippi State improved its document to 11-1, and the Bulldogs must be ranked within the new AP ballot on Monday afternoon.
Memphis dropped to 9-3 on the season and can await the rankings to see if it stays within the prime 25.
Mississippi State’s bench outscored its starters, 41-38. That was headlined by Riley Kugel’s 19 factors on an environment friendly 8-for-13 taking pictures from the sector. KeShawn Murphy added a close to double-double off of the bench with 13 factors and 9 rebounds.
Regardless of an off sport shooting-wise for Claudell Harris Jr, he contributed significantly with six factors, eight rebounds, three assists and 5 steals.
— Mississippi State Males’s Basketball (@HailStateMBK) December 21, 2024
PJ Haggerty continued his glorious season for Memphis. He scored 24 factors on 7-for-13 taking pictures from the sector. Tyrese Hunter had a pleasant sport with 19 factors, 4 rebounds and three assists.
— Memphis Basketball (@Memphis_MBB) December 21, 2024
Memphis stays one of the complicated groups in faculty basketball. Penny Hardaway’s bunch are actually 3-3 of their final six video games with losses to Auburn, Arkansas State and now Mississippi State.
Memphis has wins over Louisiana Tech, Clemson and Virginia in that stretch as properly.
Memphis is not going to win many video games with two of its gamers scoring 43 factors. The Tigers will want gamers reminiscent of Dain Dainja (11 factors, 6.7 rebounds per sport) and Colby Rogers (12.5 factors per sport) to supply on a nightly foundation if this crew has any aspirations of creating a deep run in March.
Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans has constructed a superb tradition in Starkville, and his Bulldogs are primed to make noise in an elite SEC this season.
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