BYU Ends Non-Conference With 103-81 Loss To No. 19 Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The No. 19 Mississippi State Bulldogs’ length and athleticism was too much for BYU to handle as they hand the Cougars a 103-81 loss.

Yoeli Childs led BYU with 25 points, while T.J. Haws added 14 points and 6 rebounds.

BYU shot 43 percent from the field but made just 25 percent of their three-point attempts.

Aric Holman scored 28 points and pulled down 8 rebounds, Quinndary Weatherspoon had 27 points for the Bulldogs.

Mississippi State shot 54 percent from the field and 33 percent from downtown.

BYU’s Strong Start Doesn’t Last

Childs scored seven of BYU’s first 14 points and the Cougars hit 5 of their first 9 field goal attempts but the Bulldogs countered by making 5 of their first 8 shots. The game was tied at 14 after the first five minutes of the game.

After the media timeout, the Cougars couldn’t hit a field goal over a four minute stretch, missing eight their last nine attempts and committed four turnovers. Mississippi State had a 21-19 lead with 11:15 left in the first half.

A couple of hustle plays from Mississippi State sparks them to go on a 10-0 run in a one minute stretch to give them their largest lead of 10, 33-23 with 7:47 remaining in the first half.

That run would reach 13-0 before Childs stopped the run with a layup.

The Cougars bench was assessed a technical foul that gave the Bulldogs two free points and they scored a bucket after the technical and pushed their lead to 42-27 with 5:30 left in the first half.

Mississippi went on a scoring drought of their own as they didn’t score a point in over two minutes and committed four turnovers. BYU couldn’t capitalize as much as they would have liked to, trimming the lead to 10 points 46-36 with 55 seconds left.

Mississippi State took a 48-38 lead into the locker room. Childs had a first half season-high 17 points for BYU while Quinndary Weatherspoon had 15 points for the Bulldogs.

Mississippi State Too Much For BYU In Second Half

The Cougars started the second half with a sense of urgency as they pulled to within 8 points but the Bulldogs stopped the mini run.

Mississippi went on a 6-0 run that included a two-minute scoring drought as BYU missed their last five field goal attempts giving the Bulldogs a 60-46 lead with 14:34 left.

BYU missed seven of their next eight field goal attempts and the Bulldogs had their biggest lead of the game of 15, 68-53 with 11:57 left in the game.

Over the next three minutes, Mississippi State went on a 16-2 run to lead 79-55 with 8:34 left.

Things got a little chippy when Jahshire Hardnett and Lamar Peters were jawing at each other and both players received a technical foul. Mississippi State had an 83-58 lead with 7:54 left.

It was all Mississippi State to end the game with a 103-81 win.

Final.#BYUhoops pic.twitter.com/SqX3vAps1t

— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) December 29, 2018

Up Next

BYU finished their non-conference schedule with an 8-7 record. They will begin West Coast Conference play on Thursday on the road against Pacific. The Cougars are 10-6 all-time against the Tigers and both teams split their two meetings last season. BYU lost by one point in Stockton, California and beat the Tigers 80-65 in Provo.

Pacific has one more game left on their non-conference schedule against UC Irvine. The Tigers are 9-5 on the season. BYU and Pacific will begin at 9 p.m. on Thursday on ESPNU and KSL Newsradio.