Riley Kugel came off the bench to score 19 points and lead hot-shooting Mississippi State to a 79-66 road win over No. 21 Memphis on Saturday.
It’s the first road win for Mississippi State against a ranked opponent since 2010, a span of 22 games.
The Bulldogs shot 50 percent, 9 of 18, from 3-point range in the first half. Kugel, who averages 8.4 points per game, shot 6-for-6 including all three shots from behind the arc in the first half. MSU (11-1) held a 41-15 advantage in bench points.
KeShawn Murphy scored 13 points and had nine rebounds, Cameron Matthews tallied 12 points and pulled down nine boards and Josh Hubbard added 13 points for the Bulldogs who have won five straight games.
PJ Haggerty led Memphis (9-3) with 24 points and Tyrese Hunter added 19 points.
Both teams got off to slow starts as each shot 2-of-7 and were tied 5-5 at the first media timeout. But it was the Bulldogs that rattled off a 13-0 run to take an 18-5 lead. Claudell Harris Jr. and Murphy hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get the rally started.
A Murphy steal and coast-to-coast dunk capped the run that allowed the Bulldogs to take control of the game. Memphis had three of its 12 first-half turnovers during the MSU run. Memphis had 18 turnovers which led to 25 MSU points.
Memphis entered the game shooting 41.9% from 3-point range, which ranked third nationally, but shot 29.6% against MSU.
The hosts reeled off a 5-0 scoring spurt when a Dain Dainja steal and a one-hand slam allowed the Tigers’ to set up their full-court press. Memphis forced a turnover, and Haggerty drilled a 3-pointer to cut the MSU lead to 34-22 at the 4:55 mark which is the closest the Tigers would get the rest of the first half. MSU held a 48-32 halftime advantage.
An RJ Melendez steal and layup in the Bulldogs’ full-court press gave MSU a 60-40 lead with just under 11 minutes left in the game. The Tiger’s faced their largest deficit of the season at 24 points before Hunter connected on a 3-pointer with 6:08 left as Memphis closed to 68-51.
The Tigers closed the game on an 11-0 run as both teams emptied their benches.
–Field Level Media
