Mississippi State, Florida relying on defense ahead of SEC tilt

Reeling Mississippi State will look to get its season again on monitor when its hosts Florida on Saturday in Starkville, Miss.

After an 11-0 begin, the Bulldogs (12-6, 1-5 SEC) have dropped six of their final seven video games underneath first-year coach Chris Jans.

Mississippi State is coming off a 70-59 loss to No. 9 Tennessee and is trying to break a three-game shedding streak.

“We’re a superb basketball workforce,” Jans stated. “If we will stick collectively and keep the course, we’ll have alternatives to win video games on this league this yr.”

Mississippi State stays one of many high defensive groups within the SEC, rating second in scoring protection (58.2 ppg allowed) and fourth in field-goal proportion protection (38.9 %).

Offensively, Mississippi State has been led by athletic ahead Tolu Smith (13.8 factors, 7.9 rebounds per recreation). Smith will face a problem inside going up towards Florida ahead Colin Castleton, who leads the SEC in blocked pictures at 3.2 per recreation.

Jans needs Mississippi State to stay bodily on protection whereas ready for the offense to interrupt out.

“It begins with me and my employees to set the temper — the vibe — to remain hungry, keep centered, proceed to work and imagine; simply to imagine in what we’re doing and imagine in each other,” Jans stated. “That’ll be a giant focus for us heading into the Florida recreation.”

Florida (10-8, 3-3) had its three-game win streak snapped with a 54-52 loss at Texas A&M on Wednesday night time. The Gators could not overcome a horrendous offensive first half, going simply 2 of 26 from the sector to fall behind 23-12 at halftime.

“We simply weren’t aggressive sufficient early on within the recreation,” Florida coach Todd Golden stated. “We have simply bought to discover a approach to be more practical early within the recreation, placing the ball within the basket.”

Like Mississippi State, the Gators have leaned on their protection thus far in league play. Florida has given up a mean of 62.7 factors in six league video games and enters the sport with the Bulldogs ranked thirteenth within the nation in adjusted defensive effectivity, per KenPom.com.

“We have been doing a very good job defending,” Florida guard Will Richard stated. “I really feel like as soon as we get our offense going together with that, it should be actually good.”

–Area Stage Media