Three takeaways from Mississippi State's loss to Missouri

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State lost a regular season SEC game for the first time since Feb. 26, 2017. Here's what went wrong in the Bulldogs' 75-67 loss to the Missouri Tigers at Humphrey Coliseum on Thursday night. 

Howard takes herself out of the game

Senior forward Anriel Howard was feeling it in the first half. She scored 11 points and appeared to have her touch from all over the floor. She added four more points early in the third quarter before picking up her fourth foul with 7:49 left in that frame.

Missouri was keeping the game tight even when Howard was in the game and excelling, but Mississippi State could have had a different fate heading into the fourth quarter had Howard been able to play during the third.

When she final checked back in, the game was tied at 56 with eight minutes left. Missouri went on a 4-0 run, and Howard answered with a 3-pointer.

Later in the fourth, Missouri grabbed its largest lead of the game at 67-61. Then Howard made another three. She wouldn't have an opportunity to make any more, though, as she fouled out with just under two minutes left. 

Howard finished the game with 21 points, and she only needed 11 shot attempts to get there. It makes one wonder how Mississippi State would have fared had Howard been able to play more than 27 minutes. 

Schaefer, though, said Howard's absence didn't contribute much to the loss. He said Missouri must've saw on film that the best way to attack Howard is to force her to "put a butt in the gut" on defensive rebounds. Schaefer said she struggled with that. 

"It probably impacted us a little bit offensively, but she struggled defensively," Schaefer said. "She struggled rebounding. She didn't block out numerous times.

"I didn't think it hurt us too much when she was off the floor." 

Bulldogs struggle to guard perimeter

Mississippi State knew Missouri would attempt a lot of 3-pointers. It was in the Bulldogs’ job to prevent the Tigers from getting above-average looks, but that didn’t go to plan. Missouri ended up making 11-of-26 from beyond the arc.

It could have been worse.

Many of those misses were misfires on open opportunities. When Missouri got it rolling, though, it really got it rolling. Senior guard Sophie Cunningham got the Tigers started with a pair of triples in the second quarter. Mizzou only trailed by one at halftime, 35-34, because of her sharpshooting.

"I just think they had a great plan," Schaefer said. "We really struggled guarding off the bounce tonight. It's probably our worst defensive effort of the year, by far. You're going to lose a H-O-R-S-E game against Missouri." 

It carried over into the second for Cunningham, and her teammates gave her some help as well. Redshirt junior forward Hannah Schuchts nailed two of her three 3-point attempts. Junior guard Amber Smith made two as well, and senior forward Cierra Porter made the dagger that put Missouri up by six with 41 seconds left. Mississippi State had a hard time staying with any its opponents around the perimeter.

Even when senior guard Jordan Danberry ripped the ball away from Cunningham in the corner and raced all the way to the other end for a layup, the Bulldogs still allowed Missouri senior point guard Lauren Aldridge to hit a three seconds later. Danberry’s play appeared to give Mississippi State an edge late in the third, but the Tigers quieted the crowd and stole the lead back on Aldridge’s shot. They controlled the game from then on. 

Mississippi State’s backcourt has uncharacteristic game

Seniors Jazzmun Holmes and Jordan Danberry have been one of the best backcourt duos in the nation this season, but they didn’t bring their best stuff to The Hump on Thursday night.

Holmes was held scoreless for majority of the game until she hit a desperation 3-pointer when the game had already been decided, and Danberry had an inefficient shooting night in only going 3-of-11 from the field. The two combined to have 10 turnovers, too.

"We shouldn't have 10 turnovers between those two in one game, two games or three games," Schaefer said. 

It’s possible having to deal with Cunningham while Danberry was on defense affected her ability to give it her all on offense. Danberry was her usual energetic self on defense but looked to lack an edge on the other end of the floor.

The same went for Holmes, who did a nice job of guarding Aldridge the full-length of the court, but she made too many mistakes when she was trying to run her team.

"I think it was just the focus piece for us," Holmes said. "We weren't very focused coming out." 

Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter.