Mississippi State Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Bulldogs

Year 3 for head coach Ben Howland and Mississippi State Basketball ended with a deep run in the NIT during postseason play, but there are much bigger plans on the horizon in 2018-19.

Mississippi State Basketball won over 20 games during the 2017-18 regular season, but it didn’t culminate in a bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The team finished 25-12 (9-9 SEC), but they ended up going to the NIT Semifinals, where they lost 75-60 to the Penn State Nittany Lions. This upcoming season, they will need to get over the hump and earn a tournament berth or it could be considered an underwhelming year for them.

Mississippi State will lose two key players (Xavian Stapleton and Eli Wright) from last year’s rotation but their production from a season ago is pretty much intact. That could be considered a good and a bad thing taking a look at last year’s numbers.

As a team, the Bulldogs ranked third in the SEC in scoring defense, allowing 67.8 points per contest. Offensively, though, they ranked ninth in the conference in scoring offense, putting up 73.4 points per game.

Their biggest woes came from behind the 3-point line last season. The Mississippi State Bulldogs shot just 31.9 percent (12th in the SEC) during the 2017-18 regular season. As the game continues to evolve and embrace the 3-point line, the Bulldogs will need to adjust their strategy accordingly this upcoming season. They were a quality shooting team, shooting 55.2 percent from inside the arc, now they’ll need to expand their range. Here’s a look at the season preview for the Mississippi State Bulldogs for the 2018-19 season.