No. 14 Mississippi State has suffered two shut losses at house this season towards top-tier Southeastern Convention groups.
However the league will present the Bulldogs (16-5, 4-4) many extra alternatives to win at house, comparable to Saturday afternoon towards No. 20 Missouri in Starkville, Miss.
The Bulldogs will attempt to reply positively to their 88-84 house loss to No. 4 Alabama on Wednesday. As with their 95-90 defeat to then-No. 6 Kentucky on Jan. 11, they let a possible hallmark victory slip away.
“At this level, I might simply say we aren’t a High 10 group,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans stated. “I do not like saying or admitting that as a result of I like this group. I’m assured and consider on this group. We now have to remain the course.”
The Bulldogs have already got a powerful case for an NCAA Match bid, given their victories at Memphis and Vanderbilt and at house towards Pitt and Ole Miss.
Now Mississippi State is in a stretch of going through 4 ranked groups in a span of 5 video games. Missouri (16-4, 5-2) has two High 10 victories this season, over Kansas at house and at Florida, along with wins over convention foes Vanderbilt and Ole Miss at house.
The challenges simply hold coming within the SEC.
“We simply have to remain the course,” Mississippi State guard Claudell Harris Jr. stated. “Simply hold our head in the precise area and bear in mind we’re nonetheless that group who has beat ranked groups. SEC play is a gauntlet, and you should have your ups and downs, however on the finish of the day, you simply should hold combating. We are going to get again.”
The Bulldogs are led by guard Josh Hubbard, who averages 17.3 factors and three.0 assists per recreation. He scored 38 factors towards Alabama.
KeShawn Murphy (10.8), Harris (10.6) and Riley Kugel (10.2) are also averaging in double figures in scoring.
Missouri, in the meantime, rebounded from a 61-53 loss at Texas on Jan. 21 by beating then-No. 16 Ole Miss 83-75 at house final Saturday.
After bogging down offensively towards the Longhorns, the Tigers re-established their ball motion vs. the Rebels. Missouri coach Dennis Gates needs his group attacking the basket in its half-court offense and incomes free throws.
Towards Ole Miss, the Tigers did a greater job of passing the ball out to 3-point line after drawing double-teams within the lane.
“I felt like there was a number of instances the place somebody drove in there, they performed off two ft, they drew two (defenders), kick, kick, and we had been getting open seems after we had been attacking the paint,” stated Missouri guard Caleb Grill, who scored 22 towards the Rebels.
Missouri has been a much-improved defensive group this season, which has helped them overcome stretches of chilly capturing.
“Our mindset was to not let the defensive aspect of the ball be dictated on if we had been making or lacking photographs or not,” stated Tigers guard Tamar Bates, who scored 26 factors towards Ole Miss. “As a result of we got here in with a mindset to get stops and play protection, and to cease the person in entrance of us, and to assist the helper if any person will get beat, that in flip gave us power and gave the ball power and simply helped us make photographs.”
Bates leads the balanced Missouri offense with a mean of 13.5 factors per recreation. Mark Mitchell (13.1), Grill (12.7) and Anthony Robinson II (10.2) are also averaging in double digits.
–Area Stage Media
