# SEC Men's Basketball: Mississippi State Bulldogs Dominates Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 106-88 **Published:** 2026-11-02 — **By:** Stacy Stanfield **Category:** games — **Type:** game-recap **Source:** https://secscouts.com/news/sec-men-s-basketball-mississippi-state-bulldogs-dominates-tennessee-tech-golden-eagles-106-88 **Teams:** [Miss State](https://secscouts.com/mississippi-state/) **Players:** [Thomas Bassong](https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/5316047/thomas-bassong), [King Grace](https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/5142708/king-grace), [Josh Hubbard](https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/4895740/josh-hubbard), [Tajuan Simpkins](https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/5239637/tajuan-simpkins) --- STARKVILLE, Miss. (11/01/2026) — The Mississippi State Bulldogs turned Humphrey Coliseum into a shooting gallery on Sunday, hitting 58 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range in a 106-88 victory over the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. The game featured 21 made three-pointers, and a Mississippi State attack that piled up 23 assists never let the visitors get closer than striking distance after halftime. ## How It Happened The opening 12 minutes offered no hint of the runaway to come. RJ Johnson opened the scoring with a 24-foot three off a Josh Hubbard assist just 13 seconds in, but Tennessee Tech answered in kind — De'Ante Green buried a 26-footer from Kamai Samuels to tie it at 5, and Trent Mosquera's long-range shooting kept the Golden Eagles attached. The teams traded the lead five times and were tied three times, with Mosquera's 26-foot triple at the 10:35 mark putting Tennessee Tech up 21-19 and a Caleb Hollenbeck three off a Ty Owens assist restoring a 28-26 Golden Eagles edge with 7:40 left in the half. That was Tennessee Tech's last lead. Hubbard's 24-footer off a Tajuan Simpkins assist made it 34-31, and the Bulldogs closed the half on a 19-6 surge. King Grace was the engine, draining three triples in a span of 2:18 — a 25-footer at 4:20, a 23-footer at 2:59 and a 27-footer at 2:02 — to stretch the margin to 48-35. Hubbard added a 26-foot three off a Johnson assist, and Johnson's 12-foot jumper with four seconds left sent Mississippi State to the locker room up 53-37. Johnson wasted no time reopening the gap after the break, splashing a 28-footer off another Hubbard assist 16 seconds into the second half for a 56-37 lead. Tennessee Tech kept swinging — Cbo Newton and Mosquera connected from deep, and Caleb Sanders threw down a dunk off an Owens feed — but every push met an answer. Grace hit his fourth three at 14:02, Kimani Hamilton and Simpkins converted back-to-back tip-in dunks, and Jalyn Collingwood's 25-footer off Hubbard's ninth-assist pace made it 74-59 with 11:52 to play. From there, Mississippi State cruised to the 106-88 final. ## Turning Point The final five minutes of the first half decided this one. Trailing 31-28 territory in a two-possession game, Mississippi State ripped off a closing 19-6 stretch built almost entirely from beyond the arc — four threes in that window, three of them from Grace. A contested game at 34-31 became a 53-37 halftime margin, and Johnson's three on the second half's opening possession pushed the lead to 19 before the Golden Eagles ever touched the ball. Tennessee Tech, which shot just 28 percent from deep on the night, had no realistic path to trading baskets with an opponent making half its threes. ## Star of the Game Josh Hubbard controlled the game at both ends of the possession, scoring 25 points and handing out nine assists. His fingerprints were on nearly every big Bulldogs moment — he assisted Johnson's game-opening three, set up Thomas Bassong's first-half dunk, fed Grace for a 27-footer and found Collingwood for the dagger that pushed the lead to 15 midway through the second half. King Grace deserves co-billing with 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists on four made threes, while Simpkins (15 points, five rebounds, five assists) and Bassong (14 points, six rebounds) rounded out a balanced attack. For Tennessee Tech, Caleb Sanders was outstanding in defeat with a game-high 28 points, five rebounds and three assists, punctuated by a second-half dunk. ## What It Means For Mississippi State, the offensive profile is the headline early in the 2026 season: 58 percent shooting, 50 percent from three and 23 assists against 15 turnovers point to an attack that shares the ball and makes defenses pay from distance. The Bulldogs also won the glass decisively, 39-26, giving them extra possessions they largely converted. Hubbard's playmaking alongside Grace's shooting gives Mississippi State a dangerous perimeter pairing. Tennessee Tech leaves Starkville with real positives despite the result. The Golden Eagles shot 48 percent from the field, committed just 12 turnovers and got a signature scoring night from Sanders, briefly leading a road game against an SEC opponent. The three-point disparity — 28 percent to Mississippi State's 50 — and the 13-rebound deficit were the gaps they could not overcome. --- *Original article: [SEC Men's Basketball: Mississippi State Bulldogs Dominates Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 106-88](https://secscouts.com/news/sec-men-s-basketball-mississippi-state-bulldogs-dominates-tennessee-tech-golden-eagles-106-88) — SEC Scouts*