Mississippi State vs Mizzou Men’s Basketball Preview

Mississippi State is riding a four game SEC winning streak for the first time in a decade. The Bulldogs look to make that five wins in a row as they head to Columbia to take on Mizzou this afternoon. Should they get the elusive fifth win in a row in SEC play, it’ll be the first time the feat was accomplished since 2008.

Broadcast Information

1:05 PM on ESPN2. You can stream it on WatchESPN.

Records and Rankings

Mississippi State:

• Record: 18-6 overall, 6-5 SEC
• RPI: 55
• SOS: 114

Mizzou:

• Record: 16-8 overall, 6-5 SEC
• RPI: 30
• SOS: 20

Things to Watch For

• Mizzou’s three point shooting. The Tigers are hitting shots from behind the arc at a very respectable 36.9% in SEC play, a significantly better percentage than MSU’s own 25.5% from three point range. Mizzou’s 92 three pointers on the season, good for 4th in the SEC so far this year.
• How Aric Holman and Abdul Ado match up with Mizzou’s freshman front court duo of Jontay Porter and Jeremiah Tilmon. Tilmon and Porter don’t receive an incredible amount of playing time, but the two powerful forwards could provide a challenge for Holman and Ado. In their last game against Ole Miss, Tilmon was relatively ineffective, committing 4 fouls and only scoring 2 points. Porter, however, came off the bench to score 18 points, grab 13 rebounds, and block 5 shots. Though Tilmon didn’t perform well in his last outing, he’s been a reliable option, scoring 8.1 points, pulling down 4 rebounds, and blocking 1 shot per game on the season.
• Kassius Robertson’s stellar SEC play. In 11 conference games, the senior guard is averaging 18 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 0.9 steals per game. Robertson is doing this while shooting 43.6% from the field and hitting a very impressive 44.2% of his three pointers.

Prediction

Statistically, these two teams are similar in many ways. The Bulldogs are scoring 73.9 points per game while Mizzou is scoring 73.6 points per game. When it comes to defense, the Bulldogs are holding opponents to 65.2 points per game and the Tigers hold their opponents to 66.7 points per game.

Last time the Bulldogs and Tigers met, Mississippi State came away with a 12 point victory in Humphrey Coliseum in a game that started MSU’s SEC winning streak. In the win, Quinndary Weatherspoon had one of his best performances of the year with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. MSU will likely need a performance like that from Q, or someone else, to be able to contend with Kassius Robertson and come away with the win. Both teams are riding winning streaks and have been playing very solid basketball as of late. Given how the defenses have been playing, I’m expecting the Bulldogs to win a close affair, 70-68.