STARKVILLE — Mississippi State men’s basketball got a full 24 hours to reset after its latest win – a close one over Long Island on Tuesday.
The 87-83 win was the latest in a series of hard-fought, wire-to-wire games that MSU has had to face this season, and came on the end of an eventful two weeks that included final exams, road trips to Atlanta and Salt Lake City and an emotional loss in Tupelo in the final seconds of the game.
The Bulldogs (6-5) have won three of their last four games, but it hasn’t been an easy process for a team that is still very much a work in progress.
“It’s nice that we’ve been able to win some close games,” head coach Chris Jans said. “We lost a lot of close games prior to winning three out of four, and if we had won those close games, the narrative would be slightly different… but it’s not.”
Earlier in the season, Jans remarked that his team was practicing harder than they had played in the first few games. That seems to have changed lately, with a strong road win at Georgia Tech and a gut-check comeback win over Utah in Salt Lake City.
The proof is there that the team is coming together and building on its early trials, but it’s still evolving with SEC play just around the corner.
“I’m glad we’ve been able to learn from those mistakes, because I keep telling them and everybody else: we’re going to be in a lot of close games,” Jans continued. “We’ve got to use our experiences, we’ve got to play smart, timely basketball. It all matters, but the obvious is that the time runs out. You don’t have time to make up for earlier mistakes.”
The Bulldogs welcome Memphis to Starkville today for a nonconference battle between an SEC and American Conference power.
The meeting in 2024 proved to be a signature win for MSU against a tournament-level team, but the Bulldogs and Tigers both look much different this time around.
Memphis (4-6) has had its own struggles to start the season, facing a gauntlet of nonconference foes out of the gate. Losses to No. 1 Purdue, No. 11 Louisville and No. 13 Vanderbilt highlight the difficult slate for the Tigers, as well as a one-point loss to Wake Forest and a six-point loss to Ole Miss. MSU is the seventh Power 4 opponent on their schedule.
“It’s a whole new team, and the thing that jumps out about them is their depth,” Jans said of the Tigers. “They’ve got to be one of the leading programs in the country, in terms of how many guys they play on a consistent basis, how many double-digit, minute averages. They have so many guys that can hurt you.”
Guard Dug McDaniel leads the team with 14.5 points per game and poses a threat as a distributor as well with 5.5 assists per game. Behind him on the roster are seven other guys averaging at least seven points per game, and six with at least one assist per game.
The Tigers’ rotation features a whopping seven guards, which poses problems for MSU’s leading scorers, Josh Hubbard and Jayden Epps, on the defensive end as much as on offense, where they’ll have to attack an experienced rotating cast.
“It’s difficult to prepare for that way, the personnel scouting will be the longest we’ve had, maybe all year,” Jans said. “You look at their numbers, and defensively, they’re a top-40 defensive team in the country. Their athleticism, their length and on the offensive glass, that’s probably one of their best attributes. How they attack the offensive glass and create second and third opportunities.”
The Bulldogs and Tigers will tip off at 3 p.m. Saturday at Humphrey Coliseum. The game will air on ESPN.
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