Bulldogs return to Humphrey Coliseum for showdown with Texas A&M

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Mississippi State men’s basketball team starts a three-game homestand on Wednesday when it welcomes the Texas A&M Aggies to Humphrey Coliseum. Tip time is set for 8 p.m. CT and will air on SEC Network.

Mississippi State (8-4, 3-1 SEC) is on a two-game winning streak with wins over then-No. 13 Missouri (78-63) and Vanderbilt (84-81).

In Saturday’s win over Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs used a four-player attack to hold off a Commodores team that made 15 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Iverson Molinar, the reigning Southeastern Conference player of the week, scored a game-high 24 points to go with a career-best eight rebounds and four steals.

Redshirt sophomore forward Tolu Smith scored 18 points and brought down seven rebounds, while redshirt sophomore guard D.J. Stewart Jr. added 16 points and redshirt senior forward Jalen Johnson scored 10.

Molinar leads the Bulldogs with 19.2 points per game, while Stewart is second with 18.6. Smith is averaging 13.2 points and a team-high 8.8 rebounds.

The Bulldogs have scored 79.5 points per game across four conference games, up from 73.0 per game that they put up in nonconference play.

A win over the Aggies would give the Bulldogs their first 4-1 start in SEC play since the 2008-09 season.

Texas A&M (6-4, 1-3 SEC) is looking to snap a two-game losing skid after losses to South Carolina (78-54) and then-No. 9 Tennessee (68-54).

The Aggies are led by sophomore forward Emanuel Miller with 17.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He has scored in double figures in eight of his nine games. Senior guard Quenton Jackson is averaging 12.0 points and a team-high 1.4 steals.

Texas A&M has forced opponents to turn the ball over on 24.8% of all possessions, the 17th-best rate in the country, while Mississippi State has forced opponents to turn the ball over on 18.4% of possessions, which ranks 250th.

Wednesday’s game is the 15th meeting between the two programs on the hardwood. The series is knotted up at 7-7, but the Bulldogs have won four of the last five outings. The Aggies won last year’s contest 87-75.