Mississippi State women's basketball vs. MVSU: 3 storylines to watch
By Ethan Lee
As Sam Purcell's Mississippi State basketball team continues to get set for the start of SEC play, the Mississippi State Bulldogs do happen to have one last non-conference matchup to play. Think about this as one last tune up before the Mississippi State women's basketball team faces the Vanderbilt Commodores.
At 12-2, it's pretty clear that MSU has been playing well as of late. They're even on a four-game winning streak as they head into this matchup against the Mississippi Valley State Devilettes. This game is certainly a great chance to build even more momentum and iron out any other issues ahead of an intriguing matchup with an 11-1 Vanderbilt team.
Sure, yeah, a win over the 1-10 Devilettes doesn't really mean much, but this allows for State to continue its versatile offensive attack, impose its will on the offensive glass, and get plenty of bench players experience ahead of the grind of SEC play.
Let's start looking at three key storylines ahead of MSU's game against MVSU:
Sam Purcell's Mississippi State Bulldogs finding offensive rhythm from downtown
Mississippi State is one of the best team of sharpshooters in the Southeastern Conference right now. So far this season, the Bulldogs are shooting 36.3 percent from downtown as a team (currently good for third best in the SEC). Debreasha Powe, Lauren Park-Lane and Darrione Rogers are the leaders for the Bulldogs here, but Jerkaila Jordan is pretty versatile and can be dangerous from three as well. That should overwhelm MVSU.
Mississippi State women's basketball has huge advantage on the boards
Hey, look, yet another area where the Mississippi State Bulldogs have an advantage over the MVSU Devilettes. On the glass, Mississippi State has a massive advantage here as they generally outrebound foes by 11.7 rebounds per game. Combine that with the fact that MVSU gets outrebounded by a margin of 16.4 rebounds per game and it's clear that State will be able to control the boards in this contest.
Mississippi State should take advantage of tune-up opportunity before Vandy showdown
This game isn't exactly a huge one for the Bulldogs, but it does offer MSU a great shot to fix various different issues before meeting up with the Vanderbilt Commodores in the new year. Vanderbilt is currently 11-1 and is the fourth best SEC team when it comes to three point shooting. MSU could use a bit of a tune-up ahead of that game.