With an 87-77 win over LSU on Wednesday, Mizzou snuck again up into the highest half of the SEC standings. The Tigers will look to stay there as they tackle Mississippi State on the street this weekend.
Like LSU, the Bulldogs acquired off to a robust begin in non-conference play below first-year head coach Chris Jans, going 11-1, however appeared to hit a wall as league play approached. Mississippi State started its convention slate going 1-7, however has since bounced again with back-to-back wins over No. 11 TCU and South Carolina.
The sport between Mizzou and the Bulldogs is ready to be an attention-grabbing stylistic matchup, with the Tigers’ No. 9 scoring offense going up towards Mississippi State’s No. 8 scoring protection. MU head coach Dennis Gates stated he expects a tricky contest.
“They’ve loads of versatility as nicely,” Gates stated. “They do a very good job throughout all classes. They do an awesome job of offensively doing the issues that they should do, whether or not it is to put up feed or make the photographs or assault the paint. They primarily play a mode that I believe has, indubitably, produced nice defensive numbers. And every time you are able to do that, you have a look at what you do offensively and defensively, they usually do do these issues.”
Missouri (17-5, 5-4 SEC) at Mississippi State (14-8, 2-7)
WHEN: 5 p.m. CT
WHERE: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Mississippi
TV: SEC Community
SERIES: Mississippi State leads, 12-5
KENPOM PREDICTION: Mississippi State 73, Mizzou 70
Nick Honor-D’Moi Hodge-Isiaih Mosley-Noah Carter-Kobe Brown
Minutes performed: 19
Offensive ranking: 170.7
Defensive ranking: 113.8
Web ranking: +56.9
1. Take the ball and care for it. Missouri took down No. 12 Iowa State final week regardless of the Tigers taking part in on the Thirty eighth-fastest tempo within the nation and the Cyclones taking part in on the Forty eighth-slowest, per KenPom. They did so by pressuring ISU into giving the ball up, forcing 19 turnovers, staying disciplined on offense, committing 12 turnovers themselves, and pushing the ball in transition, scoring 20 factors off of turnovers. The sport plan ought to be related towards Mississippi State, a crew that ranks 328th in adjusted tempo. The Bulldogs are additionally a menace to pressure a excessive variety of turnovers — they rank No. 1 within the SEC in turnover price whereas Mizzou is No. 2. The Tigers, nonetheless, have an edge in taking good care of the ball: MSU has coughed it up on 19.0% of possessions whereas MU has completed so simply 15.9% of the time. If the Bulldogs need to play in a slow-paced sport, the Tigers want to remove the variety of alternatives they’ve to attain.
2. As former NBA head coach Stan Van Gundy would say, “Type a f—ing wall.” Mississippi State rosters a high-caliber inside scorer in senior ahead Tolu Smith. The large man is extraordinarily environment friendly contained in the arc, averaging 14.5 factors per sport whereas capturing 57.8% from the ground. He additionally will get to the free throw line at an unimaginable price, drawing 7.5 fouls per 40 minutes, which ranks eighth within the nation based on KenPom. Smith has taken 206 subject objective makes an attempt and 146 foul photographs, the latter of which leads the SEC. The put up solely knocks down 54.8% of his free throws, although, and, like a lot of his teammates, isn’t a lot of a menace from outdoors. Simply two Bulldogs — senior guard Dashawn Davis and freshman ahead KeShawn Murphy — are connecting on at the least 30% of their 3-pointers. MSU makes 28.1% of its 3s, making it the fifth-worst capturing crew within the NCAA. Mizzou has to pack the paint and dare the Bulldogs to fireplace from distance.
3. Don’t get discouraged by misses. The Tigers have been crimson scorching on offense of their final three outings, capturing above 49% from the ground and above 46% from 3 in every victory. There’s an honest probability the ball received’t go in as usually towards Mississippi State. Protection is the Bulldogs’ calling card — they’ve allowed opponents to shoot simply 44.7% from the sphere and 31.0% from deep all yr lengthy, each marks under the D1 common. Per KenPom, 37.4% of factors scored towards MSU have come from long-range, the Nineteenth-highest proportion within the nation. Gates stated that he informed his gamers to “hold capturing” as Mizzou went by means of a four-game droop earlier than its present three-game profitable streak. However the Tigers must hold capturing whereas they’re on fireplace, too. Even when the primary few don’t fall towards the Bulldogs, Missouri has to proceed to depend on triples.
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