Mississippi State opened the 2026-27 season with a comfortable 106-88 win over Tennessee Tech on Monday night at Humphrey Coliseum, and the formula was simple: the defense tightened up, then the shots started dropping.
The Bulldogs finished 50% from 3-point range and 58% overall from the field, turning a shaky start into a strong opening-night performance. Tennessee Tech was ahead early after forcing five turnovers and building a 10-5 lead. Mississippi State answered with a 13-0 run that pushed it in front 21-10, then kept control from there.
Josh Hubbard sparked the surge with three straight 3-pointers. King Grace followed with one of his own, and T.J.
Simpkins added another to help Mississippi State go ahead 24-13 before halftime. Grace finished with 21 points, while Hubbard scored 33.
Thomas Basson added 12 and R.J. Johns had 10.
Hubbard and Grace were the only two players from last season’s team that stayed in Starkville with the system, but both still had to get used to a roster full of new faces.
“I think it helped a little bit, with it being a new team,” Grace said. “But at the same time, I’ve still got to learn new faces, new X’s, new players I’m playing with, so it helped a little bit.”
Johns set the tone with a trio of 3-pointers before halftime. The Bulldogs went back and forth for a stretch before Grace nailed his fourth 3-pointer, then Hubbard followed with another to make it 33-25 Bulldogs at the 13:36 mark. Tennessee Tech never got a field goal after that for two minutes, and Mississippi State kept extending the gap.
“We started guarding the ball better. We started figuring out how we needed to guard them with some more switching.
We started switching a lot more than what our base is,” State coach Chris Jans said. “And then the other thing that probably led to it is we didn’t turn the ball over.
I don’t think we turned the ball over the last 10 or 11 minutes of the second half, after starting off with eight to open the game.”
Johns finished the first half with three 3-pointers, and the Bulldogs carried a 47-35 lead into the break. The team then came out and kept the pressure on in the second half, with the offense doing enough to keep Tennessee Tech from making it a game.
Hubbard has been the steady piece, and he was again Monday. Grace said the continuity mattered, but only to a point.
“I think it helped a little bit,” Grace said. “But at the same time, I’ve still got to learn new faces, new X’s, new players I’m playing with, so it helped a little bit.”
Mississippi State returns to action Thursday when it hosts Northwestern State. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
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