Missouri and Mississippi State got here to the Southeastern Convention event in Nashville searching for to enhance their standing with the NCAA Event choice committee.
That course of will proceed when the seventh-seeded Tigers (21-10) face the Tenth-seeded Bulldogs (21-11) within the second spherical of the SEC event on Thursday evening.
The No. 21-ranked Tigers have been bidding for a top-four seed within the SEC tourney and a top-four seed within the NCAA discipline earlier this season. Then they closed their league schedule by dropping 4 of 5 video games.
“We nonetheless left loads on the desk, the place I believed we might have turned the nook and completed in a double bye, even competed for a (convention) championship,” Tigers coach Dennis Gates mentioned. “Issues wanted to occur that did not.”
Missouri loved success earlier this season, forcing live-ball turnovers by making use of man-to-man defensive strain and mixing in match-up zones extending previous the 3-point line.
However throughout their previous 4 losses, the Tigers allowed a median of 94 factors.
“We all know what we will do,” mentioned Missouri ahead Mark Mitchell, who leads the Tigers with a median of 14.3 factors and provides 4.7 rebounds per sport. “We all know the kind of workforce we have now, and we will hold working.”
Gates prolonged his enjoying rotation to 10 and 11 gamers at numerous factors this season, so he would not imagine fatigue factored into his workforce’s late fade. Solely 4 Tigers common greater than 23 minutes per sport.
“It has not creeped into our program,” Gates mentioned. “What I do see is that our guys … as a substitute of concentrating on guys, we have been the goal.”
Missouri gained the sooner assembly with the Bulldogs 88-61 in Starkville, Miss., on Feb. 1, with Caleb Grill scoring 20 factors off the bench and Tamar Bates including 14. Grill averages 14.2 factors per sport this season and Bates averages 12.9.
Josh Hubbard scored 24 factors for Mississippi State in that loss to Missouri, and KeShawn Murphy scored 16 factors off the bench.
“We have been on a successful streak, and we simply underestimated them,” Hubbard advised the SEC Community. “It was an early sport, and we did not play our greatest basketball — we did not play Bulldog basketball.
“Now we have an excellent alternative to get our ‘get’ again.”
Mississippi State coach Chris Jans got here to Nashville with a easy purpose.
“Win video games, win video games,” he mentioned. “That is the mantra, that is the purpose. Win as many video games as we will.
“Does that imply we’re enjoying (within the title sport) Sunday? I hope so,” Jans added.
Whereas the Tigers had a bye Wednesday, the Bulldogs rolled over LSU 91-62 behind Hubbard’s 26 factors.
Mississippi State held LSU to 39.3 % taking pictures from the sphere, together with 19.2 % (5-for-26) from 3-point vary.
“After we reconvened on Monday to prepare for the SEC event, (protection) was the message,” Jans advised the SEC Community. “If we will go down there, we will play our model of basketball. We simply have not been nearly as good at it this 12 months.”
–Discipline Stage Media
