NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mississippi State entered the Southeastern Conference Tournament last season with some work to do in order to lock up an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Bulldogs arrived in Nashville coming off a close loss at Vanderbilt, which dropped them to the No. 9 seed at 8-10 in SEC play. MSU took a 14-point lead over No. 8 seed Florida late in the first half but went cold offensively after the break before Tolu Smith’s layup with five seconds left in overtime gave the Bulldogs a 69-68 win.
MSU lost by 23 points to top-seeded Alabama the next day, but the victory over the Gators proved to be just enough to send the Bulldogs to the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, for a matchup with Pittsburgh.
If some of that sounds familiar, it’s because MSU is in almost the same situation this year. The Bulldogs (19-12, 8-10 SEC) looked like a near-lock for March Madness two weeks ago, but they closed the regular season with four consecutive losses and are once again the No. 9 seed in Nashville. Most bracket experts seem to think a win Thursday over No. 8 seed LSU (17-14, 9-9) would put head coach Chris Jans’ team firmly in the field of 68.
“It’s win or go home. All or nothing,” senior guard Shakeel Moore said. “We were here last year. We know what we have to do to automatically be in the NCAA (Tournament).”
All five starters from last year’s team — Smith, Moore, Cameron Matthews, D.J. Jeffries and Dashawn Davis — are still playing key minutes for MSU, even though freshman guard Josh Hubbard has stolen many of the headlines with his recent hot-shooting stretch.
The Bulldogs are less dependent this season on Smith, who had 28 points and 12 rebounds in that win last season against Florida but has started slowly in his last three games, making just one of nine first-half field goal attempts in losses to Auburn, Texas A&M and South Carolina.
“He’s the focal point of our offense at times, and he beats himself up,” Moore said. “If he could just lock in and do what he has to do, he’ll be all right.”
Hubbard may be MSU’s leading scorer, but this is still a veteran-laden group that has plenty of postseason experience to draw on. The Bulldogs’ season began with a summer trip to Portugal, which Matthews said helped them get comfortable with different lineups. That came in handy as key rotation players like Jeffries and KeShawn Murphy missed time during conference play, not to mention Smith’s foot injury that cost him MSU’s first 12 games.
A win over the Tigers, a team the Bulldogs defeated by 20 on the road in late February, would give them a date with top-seeded Tennessee — whom MSU also beat at home back in January.
“The core guys we have who have been here, we’ve been in situations like this and we know that one game shouldn’t really affect you,” Matthews said. “When you look at the bracket, the only (team) on this side who we haven’t beaten is South Carolina, and we could have beaten them. I feel like we have a good chance to make a deep run.”
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