Mississippi State Basketball Set to Play in Corpus Christi Coastal Classic

With Florida State, Oregon State, and Tulane already announced on the non-conference basketball schedule, the Mississippi State Bulldogs announced Wednesday that the team will participate in the Corpus Christi Coastal Classic on November 28 and 29 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Bulldogs will match up against St. Louis in the opening contest and then pair off against either TCU or Bradley in the second game.

The Billikens, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last year, finished the 2013-2014 season with a 27-7 mark and took the Atlantic-10 regular season crown. The Bulldogs and Billikens have only met once, a game played in 1951 that saw St. Louis win 63-46 in St. Louis.

The Bulldogs and TCU locked up in 2013 as part of the Big 12/SEC challenge in a game that saw the Horned Frogs walk out of Starkville with a 71-61 victory. The teams also met in 1989 with TCU picking up a 66-65 win in Fort Worth, and the Bulldogs won the return game in 1990 64-60 in Starkville.

Mississippi State and Bradley have only met on one occasion.  The two teams collided in the second round of the 2007 MasterCard NIT, and the Bulldogs defeated the Braves 101-72 in Starkville. The Bulldogs later defeated Florida State 86-71 in Starkville to advance to the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden, where the Bulldogs dropped a 63-62 decision to the West Virginia Mountaineers, who later defeated Clemson to win the NIT crown.