Mississippi State Basketball learns SEC opponents for 2024-2025 season

We're still six months away from the start of the 2024-2025 college basketball season, but Mississippi State basketball can start scouting their SEC matchups for their third season under head coach Chris Jans. On Monday, the SEC announced the league's home and away opponents for the upcoming year.

With Texas and Oklahoma joining the league, the SEC has made some alterations to its conference scheduling format. They're sticking with an 18-game schedule that will assure each team plays everyone at least once with three opponents being played both home and away.

Mississippi State basketball will face a familiar trio of teams both home and away in the upcoming season

One of the minor tweaks to the league's scheduling format with Texas and Oklahoma now in the SEC is the number of permanent home and away opponents on each team's schedule. Previously, each team had three conference rivals that they'd play both home and away annually. For MSU, those teams were Ole Miss, Alabama, and South Carolina.

Now, that number is down to two permanent rivals, and each team will have one rotating opponent that they'll face both home and away each year, making three total home/away opponents annually.

And for the 2024-2025 season, nothing actually changes for MSU. They'll still face Ole Miss, Alabama, and South Carolina home and away during the year. It appears that the Rebels and Tide are the two permanent rivals while the Gamecocks are the rotational team.

Kentucky, Florida, and Lonestar State rivals headline MSU's home slate

The Bulldogs will get several high-profile home games next season. State will welcome marquee opponents Kentucky, Florida, Texas A&M, and SEC newcomer Texas to Starkville.

All four programs were tournament teams in 2024, and expectations remain high going into next year, even for a Wildcats squad now led by Mark Pope. State will also have home games against LSU and Missouri.

Raucous road environments await Bulldogs next season

Life in the SEC is never easy, as the level of basketball in the conference is as strong as any other league. Along with the quality of play, the SEC is home to some of the wildest home court atmospheres in hoops. And State will face multiple grueling road tests next season.

The Bulldogs have road games against Auburn, Tennessee, and a John Calipari-led Arkansas squad. Those are three incredibly difficult places to win. State will also travel to Vanderbilt (a gym that's haunted MSU many times), Georgia, and Oklahoma.

State's home and away schedule breaks fairly even

All things considered, Mississippi State got an acceptable slate from the league this year. Neither the home nor away schedule is tilted as significantly more favorable than the other. It's practically impossible to not have multiple road games against high-level teams, but the Bulldogs have a few favorable road matchups as well.

They also have a strong enough home schedule to draw big crowds and create good opportunities for resume-building wins. 2024-2025 sets up to be a big one for Chris Jans and Mississippi State, and they'll have the chance to take advantage with this slate.