National Championship Game Rematch Set for February 5th at the Humphrey Coliseum

The Southeastern Conference released the 2017-2018 SEC Conference Schedule Monday Afternoon. Mississippi State had released the non conference schedule last Friday Afternoon which features the Oregon Ducks, the last team the Connecticut Huskies defeated before falling to Mississippi State in the Final Four.

Mississippi State will start basketball season in a doubleheader with the Men’s Basketball Team on November 10th. The game against Virginia will feature the unveiling of the Final Four Banner. Mississippi State will also play in Cancun, Mexico against Arizona State, Green Bay, and Columbia. The Bulldogs will also welcome Louisiana Lafayette to the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson Mississippi on November 29th. In the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, Mississippi State will host Oklahoma State on December 3rd. State will spend Christmas Break in Las Vegas as they will play UNLV and Syracuse. Syracuse lost to Connecticut in the 2016 National Championship Game.

In SEC Play the Bulldogs will play Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Florida twice. Mississippi State will open SEC Play in Athens Georgia on New Years Eve. Other road games include LSU, Tennessee, Missouri, and Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs open SEC Play at the Humphrey Coliseum on January 4th when the Bulldogs welcome in Arkansas. Arkansas hired Mike Neighbors who was the head coach of the Sweet Sixteen Washington Huskies last season. Other home games include Alabama, Texas A&M, and the home finale on February 22nd against Auburn.

And of course on February 5th Mississippi State will host South Carolina in quite possibly the biggest game in Humphrey Coliseum History. Mississippi State and South Carolina have met on the biggest stages in the sport. The rivalry started to get interesting when Mississippi State set a record crowd in a hard fought loss in the last meeting at the Humphrey Coliseum. They have since met in 2 SEC Title Games and 1 National Championship Game. There’s a good chance these two teams will be in the top 10 once again. While South Carolina loses key players like Allisha Gray and Kaela Davis, they return A’ja Wilson and that will be enough to keep South Carolina as a National Title Contender. This will be the best game at the Humphrey Coliseum for the 2018 season. And there’s a great chance it will be the loudest it’s been in years.

It will be hard to top what many consider the greatest moment in Mississippi State History “the shot”. But Mississippi State is still a National Title Contender coming into the 2018 season and certainly a conference contender. MSU has never won the SEC(Regular Season or Tournament). It’s safe to say that State is going to have to go through South Carolina to win it. Mississippi State might have gotten through the biggest hurdle in Women’s Basketball by defeating Connecticut, but they have yet to get through the South Carolina game. And with only one scheduled meeting, the February 5th has big implications on NCAA Seeding, and SEC Tournament Hopes. But MSU has 23 games to play until that day. More than enough time to prepare for the SEC game of the year.