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Mississippi State Basketball: Bulldogs Face the UNT Mean Green and Iverson Molinar makes his Season Debut

By Derrick Thomas

LEXINGTON, KY - FEBRUARY 04: Iverson Molinar #5 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs dribbles the ball against Immanuel Quickley #5 of the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on February 4, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KY - FEBRUARY 04: Iverson Molinar #5 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs dribbles the ball against Immanuel Quickley #5 of the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on February 4, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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Mississippi State Basketball: Bulldogs Face the UNT Mean Green Tonight

The Mississippi State Basketball team will host the University of North Texas tonight at 7:00 PM. The game will be broadcast on  SECNetwork+, the MSU Radio Network, and TuneIn. The Bulldogs stand 1-2 on the season and will look to even their record against North Texas.

The Bulldogs will also get a boost to its backcourt as Iverson Molinar will make his season debut a day after his birthday. Molinar missed the first three games recovering from Covid-19 Symptoms. His return will add another scorer and distributor to the offense.

Coach Howland updated his availability by saying Molinar would play about 25 to 30 minutes in his press conference on December 3. Molinar played in thirty-one games, started in eight, and averaged 5.9 points during his true freshman season.

As Molinar gets back added back to the rotation, opponents will have to worry about another talented player. D.J Stewart and Tolu Smith have been the leaders in the first three games.

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Scouting the Mean Green

Grant McCasland coaches the Mean Green in his fourth season. The Mean Green were the Conference USA Regular Season Champions a year ago. North Texas was picked to finish second in Conference USA this season.

The Mean Green is lead by C-USA preseason selection Javion Hamlet. While Hamlet is the floor general, the Mean Green have had two different players lead them in scoring and have four players who are averaging double figures. Zachary Simmons, James Reese, and Mardez McBridge are players that the Bulldogs will need to stop tonight.

The Mean Green defeated SWAC foe Mississippi Valley State University 116-62 and were brought back down to earth in a loss to Arkansas 69-54. The Mean Green is another three-point shooting team like Liberty.

As a team, they are shooting 50% from three-point land. Most of that damage was done against MVSU as Arkansas held them to 2-13 shooting from deep.

Keys to A Bulldog Win

Mississippi State doesn’t need to toy around with North Texas. The Bulldogs need to come about aggressive and attack the Mean Green in the paint. The Bulldogs have outrebounded every opponent so far, and that the trend needs to continue tonight.

D.J. Stewart and Tolu Smith should again be the offensive leaders for Mississippi State. As Molinar gets back on the court, I look for him to be aggressive, driving to the basket and finding Smith and Ado for easy layups and dunks and Stewart for open jumpers.

The Mean Green is a talented team, and they will want not to incur a second straight loss to an SEC Opponent. I am confident Bulldogs will defend homecourt even out their record at 2-2. My score prediction: Bulldogs by a score of 76-65.

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