Unranked Mississippi State rolls No. 21 Memphis, improves to 11-1

The Mississippi State Bulldogs marched into FedExForum and dominated No. 21 Memphis from start to finish in a 79-66 victory on Saturday.

The win for Mississippi State improved its record to 11-1, and the Bulldogs should be ranked in the new AP poll on Monday afternoon.

Memphis dropped to 9-3 on the season and will await the rankings to see if it remains in the top 25.

Mississippi State’s bench outscored its starters, 41-38. That was headlined by Riley Kugel’s 19 points on an efficient 8-for-13 shooting from the field. KeShawn Murphy added a near double-double off of the bench with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Despite an off game shooting-wise for Claudell Harris Jr, he contributed greatly with six points, eight rebounds, three assists and five steals.

PJ Haggerty continued his excellent season for Memphis. He scored 24 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field. Tyrese Hunter had a nice game with 19 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Memphis remains one of the most confusing teams in college basketball. Penny Hardaway’s bunch are now 3-3 in their last six games with losses to Auburn, Arkansas State and now Mississippi State. 

Memphis has wins over Louisiana Tech, Clemson and Virginia in that stretch as well.

Memphis will not win many games with two of its players scoring 43 points. The Tigers will need players such as Dain Dainja (11 points, 6.7 rebounds per game) and Colby Rogers (12.5 points per game) to produce on a nightly basis if this team has any aspirations of making a deep run in March.

Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans has built an excellent culture in Starkville, and his Bulldogs are primed to make noise in an elite SEC this season.