NCAA Basketball: Creighton’s fall, Mountain West success among biggest takeaways
By Joey Loose
4. Is Mississippi State for real?
Mississippi State has gotten their season off to an unblemished 9-0 start, even more impressive considering this is Chris Jans’ first season in Starkville. These Bulldogs are now ranked 17th in the nation and are one of the seven unbeaten teams (we mentioned the other six on the last two slides). Additionally, the Bulldogs sit 6th in the most recent NET rankings and already have a pair of Quad 1 victories.
A lot of the success is due to Tolu Smith, as the talented senior forward is leading the way while averaging 16.7 points and 9.4 rebounds a game. Fellow forwards D. J. Jeffries and Cameron Matthews are former high school teammates who are the second and third leading scorers for this team, but it’s not offense that’s gotten the job done this season.
A stingy defense is the reason Mississippi State has won its first nine games. They’ve allowed no more than 55 points in any of their contests and already boast wins over Marquette, Utah, and Minnesota, with all three games coming away from home. Even more impressively, each of those teams had their season-low in points against this Bulldogs squad.
The jury is out on how real of a contender Mississippi State will be this season. That defense is for real and they aren’t just beating up on nobodies, but the rigors of SEC play may show us more about them. They significantly limited both Marquette and Utah, but the Bulldogs didn’t have great offensive performances in either of those wins. Will the offense be able to keep up when playing teams like Alabama or Kentucky in the coming months? We’ll see how far Tolu Smith and company can take this first-year squad, looking to replicate Arizona’s similar success from last year under a new coach.