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Mississippi State rallies at Texas to grab huge overtime road win, 101-98

Paul Jones Mississippi State Bulldogsby: Paul Jones01/04/26PaulJonesOn3

Mississippi State produced its best win of the season Saturday as the Bulldogs rallied at Texas and won 101-98 in overtime. The Bulldogs used a late 7-0 run in regulation to force overtime and then held on for a win in their SEC opener.

Josh Hubbard had a career-high 38 points for Mississippi State (9-5, 1-0) while Jayden Epps added 27. Achor Achor had 10 points and a season-best 13 rebounds, including seven offensive boards.

“Those two kids (Hubbard and Epps) showed a lot of heart,” head coach Chris Jans said afterwards. “But more importantly, I thought everyone else knew where the ball needed to go. I can only count three of 76 shots that were (not good). To get a group of guys to be unselfish like that and to buy into roles is really difficult in this era.

“Hopefully, a big win like this will help support what we are trying to do. We know how we have to play and we’ve known for weeks now how we have to play. We got it into the game this afternoon.”

Dailyn Swain had 34 points and 14 rebounds to pace Texas (9-5, 0-1) and Tramon Mark added 20. Matas Vokietaitis also finished in double digits for Texas with 19 points, highlighted by a 13 of 18 showing at the line.

State and Texas took turns with the lead in the second half and the Longhorns appeared poised to pull away with an 86-79 lead with 1:42 left. But Hubbard made a 3 pointer with 1:02 left and Brandon Walker had an offensive putback to tie the game at 86-86 with 17 seconds left. Texas misses a shot to win the game at the buzzer.

“Brandon Walker was unbelievable,” Jans added. “Not just the tip-in and the basket, he was fighting. We had a mess of foul trouble but we were able to survive it.”

In overtime, State jumped out to a 96-91 lead until five straight points from Mark tied the game at 96-96 with 51 seconds left. But Hubbard hit a 3 pointer with 39 seconds remaining in the extra period and then iced the game with two free throws with six seconds left. Simeon Wilcher misses a potential game-tying 3 pointer at the buzzer.

“He was awesome,” said Jans of Achor. “I said it to the guys that a couple of guys had games like that where we don’t win. We don’t win if Achor Achor does not do what he did. That block he had showed his athleticism, which I wish he would show more of. He had competitive spirit and has always been a good rebounder for us.

“To come in here and outrebound them, 46-39, is not something I had on the bingo card. That is one thing they really pride themselves on.”

State shot 45% for the game and made 10 of 33 from 3 point territory. The Bulldogs were 22 of 33 at the line, had 11 turnovers and outrebounded the Longhorns, 47-39. Texas shot 48% from the field and was 7 of 25 beyond the 3 point arc. The Longhorns were 29 of 40 at the line and had 10 rebounds.

State started hot offensively thanks to the backcourt and jumped out to a 11-6 lead. After Texas regrouped and took a 21-18 lead, State answered in a big way with a 16-4 run and took a 34-28 lead after a McGhee layup. State managed to hold the lead and led 48-43 at halftime.

State shot 49% in the opening half and made 5 of 14 beyond the 3 point arc. The Bulldogs were 9 of 12 at the foul line and had only two turnovers in the half. Texas shot 48% from the field and made 4 of 13 from 3 point range. The Longhorns were 9 of 14 at the charity stripe, had seven turnovers and outrebounded State 22-17.

Now State carries a five-game winning streak into next week’s SEC home opener against Oklahoma.

Up Next

Mississippi State returns to action Wednesday when the Bulldogs host Oklahoma for their SEC home opener. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum and the game is on the SEC Network. Oklahoma is 11-3 overall and won its SEC opener on Saturday against Ole Miss.

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