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NCAA Releases 2014-2015 College Basketball Attendance | Mississippi State Ranks No. 81

The NCAA has released basketball attendance figures from last year. As you might guess, it was not pretty for the Bulldogs.

Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

The NCAA released its 2014-2015 men's basketball attendance figures, and the Mississippi State Bulldogs finished with the 81st best average home game attendance in Division 1 basketball.

Syracuse led all programs in average home attendance with 429,378 fans attending 18 home games for an average of 23,854 per contest.  It is the second year in a row that Syracuse has led the nation in attendance. Kentucky, who led the nation in overall home attendance with 447,874 fans, finished second in average attendance.  Louisville, who finished third in average attendance, joined the other squads as the only teams to see 400,000 or more fans come to their home games for the season.

2014-2015 SEC Men's Basketball Attendance
Team Total Attendance Home Games Average
Kentucky 447,874 19 23, 527
Arkansas 294,860 19 15, 519
Tennessee 241,025 16 15,064
South Carolina 184, 314 16 11. 520
Florida 169,123 16 10,570
Alabama 193,362 19 10,177
LSU 151,249 17 8,897
Vanderbilt 168,377 19 8,862
Missouri 137,086 17 8,064
Auburn 133,033 17 7,825
Georgia 120,270 16 7,517
Ole Miss 115,196 16 7,200
Texas A&M 124,683 18 6,927
Mississippi State 106,946 17 6,291

As the numbers show, the attendance does not paint a pretty picture as to what was happening with Mississippi State basketball over the last couple of years.

In 2014, the Bulldogs finished 67th in the nation in terms of average attendance with 6875 fans at each game.  The Bulldogs finished ahead of teams such as Georgia and Auburn that year.  In 2013, 6721 fans came to each Mississippi State home game, good for 71st in the nation and good for keeping the Bulldogs out of the SEC cellar.  This past season saw a significant drop in attendance at The Hump.  Given that the Bulldogs can hold around 10,500 fans at The Hump, the numbers are not pretty.

In 2011-2012, the Bulldogs finished 60th in the nation with 8019 fans coming to each game in the season before Rick Ray's arrival.  Of course that team had high expectations that it failed to meet.  For the 2010-2011 season, the Bulldogs averaged 5,710 fans at each contest.

Expect those numbers to rise significantly this season. When Mississippi State announced Ben Howland would take over the program, there was an undeniable show of support from fans.  When Malik Newman committed to Mississippi State, the excitement in the fan base shot up. Look for a rejuvenated experience when Mississippi State fans come to The Hump for Hoops.