Mississippi State men’s basketball visits Ole Miss

OXFORD, Miss. — The Mississippi State men’s basketball team looks to even the season series against the Ole Miss Rebels Saturday evening inside The Pavilion at Ole Miss. Tip time is set for 5 p.m. CT and will air on SEC Network.

The Bulldogs (11-11, 5-8 SEC) had their midweek contest against Auburn postponed due to inclement weather. They last played a week ago and dropped a 72-51 contest to Vanderbilt. Sophomore guard Iverson Molinar led MSU with 19 points and six rebounds. Redshirt sophomore guard D.J. Stewart Jr. and freshman guard Deivon Smith had nine points apiece, while redshirt sophomore forward Tolu Smith had seven points and six boards.

Molinar leads MSU in scoring with an average of 16.9 points per game, while Stewart is right behind him with 16.7 per game. Tolu Smith is averaging 12.8 points and a team-high 8.4 rebounds.

Ole Miss (12-8, 7-6 SEC) enters Saturday’s contest with the longest active winning streak in the Southeastern Conference. The Rebels are 4-0 in the month of February and have won six of their last eight SEC games.

Senior guard Devontae Shuler leads the team with 16.3 points and 3.6 assists per game. Graduate transfer forward Romello White and junior guard Jarkel Joiner average 11.0 points apiece.

Saturday’s meeting is the 264th for the Bulldogs and Rebels on the hardwood. MSU owns a 145-118 series advantage, but Ole Miss has won 11 of the last 15 matchups, including a 64-46 win earlier this season on Jan. 19. A victory for the Bulldogs would split the season series against Ole Miss for the fourth consecutive season. The last two-game regular-season sweep for the Rebels came in 2016-17.