For the first time in 10 years, Mississippi State will venture an hour north to Tupelo on Sunday as North Texas awaits the Bulldogs for the 2023 edition of Magnolia Madness.
The game takes the place of MSU’s usual in-state neutral-site contest in Jackson, where the Bulldogs have played in each of the last eight seasons that were not impacted by a global pandemic. It will mark just the fifth time in program history that MSU plays in Tupelo. The Bulldogs have won the previous four, most recently a 68-62 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in December 2013.
MSU (8-2) is coming off an 85-81 win over Murray State on Wednesday night that was a tale of two halves and saw the Bulldogs let a 19-point lead get away before pulling it out late.
Shakeel Moore’s 16 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor led four MSU players in double figures — freshman Josh Hubbard’s 15 points all came from either behind the 3-point arc or at the free throw line, Cameron Matthews added 13 points and D.J. Jeffries had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
For the first time all season, though, perimeter defense was a concern. Washington State’s 7-for-23 (30.4 percent) showing from 3-point range was the best performance by any Bulldogs opponent prior to Wednesday. But the Racers made 12 of their 23 attempts from deep and used the 3-ball to reel off 15 straight points to get back into the game in the second half and ultimately take a late lead.
“Normally, our defense is what our rallying point is,” head coach Chris Jans said. “They did a really good job of running some things that they hadn’t shown all year long and they game planned for our defense. We struggled, and then we made adjustments at halftime, but then they didn’t run that stuff anymore.”
The Mean Green (5-4) are coming off a pair of long road trips — they lost 69-64 at Boise State on Dec. 5, then suffered a one-point loss to Fordham in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Sunday. They have played one Southeastern Conference team already this season, falling 66-62 to LSU in Charleston, S.C. on Nov. 17.
North Texas’ scoring defense has been the best in the American Athletic Conference, allowing 58.4 points per game, but its offense is currently the second-worst in its new conference. Like MSU with Hubbard, the Mean Green’s leading scorer comes off the bench. Jason Edwards is averaging just under 15 points per game, and Aaron Scott and Rubin Jones are also in double figures on average.
The Bulldogs have won all three prior matchups with North Texas. The teams’ last meeting was a 69-63 MSU win in December 2020 in Starkville.
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