Mississippi State Basketball needs at least a split of their games this week
The Mississippi State basketball team needs to find a way to do no worse than split their two games against 8th ranked Kentucky and 16th ranked Auburn.
When the Mississippi State basketball team opened SEC play in January, there were hopes the team could compete with the best in the conference. But after losing their opening two games against South Carolina on the road and Ole Miss at home, confidence in the team was shot.
Thankfully, the Mississippi State basketball team rebounded this past week. The Bulldogs beat the Florida Gators at home by three and then went on the road to Vanderbilt and won by 16 in a venue that has never been kind to the Bulldogs.
With both wins, the Mississippi State basketball team now stands at 2-2 in the SEC and 14-3 overall. Most importantly though, the Bulldogs are 27th in the NCAA Net Rankings which is the replacement for the RPI.
The next two games for the Mississippi State basketball team are critical. If they were to lose both, the Bulldogs would be put in the unenviable position of falling two games under .500 with road games against Alabama and Ole Miss followed by a home game against LSU on the horizon.
The first task at hand for Ben Howland and the Mississippi State basketball team is tonight at Rupp Arena against the Kentucky Wildcats. Tonight isn’t a must-win situation, but the Bulldogs have to make sure if they don’t win, it doesn’t carry into Saturday.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs will have their only home game in their next four contests. Auburn is really good and one of the best teams in the conference. But they are far from unbeatable. If the Bulldogs were to lose to the Wildcats tonight, they need to remain confident as the Tigers come to Starkville on Saturday night.
Next. 5 concerns from first year of Joe Moorhead. dark
The next two games are critical for the Mississippi State basketball team’s NCAA Tournament chances. Winning both would be great, but they need to get at least one of these games to keep any positive momentum going through the rest of the SEC season.