16. Mississippi State (15-3)
Chris Jans has Mississippi State in great shape, hoping to be one of the major forces in an SEC that’s absolutely jam packed with talent. Nonconference play included road wins over Memphis and SMU, though the Bulldogs will look to pad that resume with some nice performances in league play. They almost got that last weekend with a tough home loss to Kentucky, but could they finally break through this week?
That answer didn’t come Tuesday, as the Bulldogs lost 88-66 in a tough one at Auburn. Josh Hubbard shot poorly but had 17 points on what was a tough shooting night for this team. Fortunately, they survived what was a fantastic matchup on Saturday, getting an 84-81 overtime win over rival Ole Miss to cap the weekend. Riley Kugel led the way with 21 points off the bench while KeShawn Murphy also starred with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
These Bulldogs have been far from perfect this season, especially in those two recent losses, but they did just enough on Saturday night. There’s a lot to be excited about in this entire rotation, with the offense in particular playing at a high level in league play. Whatever this amounts to, there’s great excitement at Mississippi State and we’ll see how that plays into next week’s tough matchup at Tennessee.