STARKVILLE — Mississippi State is glad to be home.

Of the first 10 Southeastern Conference games for the Bulldogs, six have come on the road. They are 1-5 in those games with the lone win coming at Missouri. In the four home games, the Bulldogs are 1-3 with a win over rival Ole Miss.

MSU won’t have to worry about traveling for the next three games as it has a three-game homestand. The stretch may be coming at the right time for the Bulldogs who can rest up and feed off the crowd’s energy. The Bulldogs (9-13, 2-8 SEC) began that three-game stretch against the Arkansas Razorbacks (12-11, 5-5) 8 p.m. (SEC Network) today inside Humphrey Coliseum.

“It’s good,” Bulldog freshman guard Malik Newman said. “It’s just good to have our crowd here and have them behind us and just being at home.”

The home stretch will also give the Bulldogs some time to relax and their schedule won’t be as busy as it would be playing on the road. After losing to LSU this past Saturday, the Bulldogs had an “intense film” session Sunday according to coach Ben Howland. He said they didn’t practice, but did move around to get the lactic acid out of the body.

“Guys are playing a lot of minutes, so I thought it was better for us to have our best chance (today) to not do a whole lot physically exerting,” Howland said. “(Monday) we’ll have a good practice and we’ll go hard and hopefully come out (today) prepared and ready to go.”

MSU is 6-4 at home this season, with the four losses coming by a combined 12 points. Three of those losses have come to SEC teams, but MSU had chances to win all three. The Bulldogs lost 61-60 to Texas A&M in the conference opener and then dropped an 80-75 decision to Tennessee after having several chances to take the lead in the second half. The most recent home loss came in overtime to Alabama last week.

Although the Bulldogs haven’t been able to overcome late game struggles, the homestand is a chance for them to put together a win streak that might propel them the rest of the season. Howland isn’t thinking that way though.

“It’s just one game at a time,” Howland said. “Our first opponent is very good, athletic and extremely talented. They’re really playing well offensively. They’ve improved a lot since we’ve seen them last in terms of their man offense and how they move the ball in their motion.”

The Razorbacks beat the Bulldogs 82-68 Jan. 9 in Fayetteville, in the first meeting between the two teams. Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said the Bulldogs have improved since that defeat and said he knows it will be a challenge for his team.

The last two trips to Starkville have been fruitful for the Razorbacks as they have won both. However, Arkansas is just 1-6 on the road this season, including 1-4 in SEC play. Anderson said winning on the road won’t be easy this time around and said the last two results have nothing to do with this game.

“You’ve got to play some sound basketball when you do that,” Anderson said. “You’ve got to not turn the ball over, you’ve got to shoot the ball well and I’m hoping our defense travels. That’s going to be a big key in this game.”

The Razorbacks made 16 3-pointers in the initial matchup this season. The Bulldogs played a zone defense and struggled to keep the Razorbacks from catching fire. MSU has been using a man-to-man defense more and more, if personnel and foul trouble allows.

Howland likes the potential matchup of his man-to-man defense against Arkansas’ offense, but there are some things that worry him.

“This will be a real challenge for our man defense because they cut hard and they move the ball, they get it moving from side-to-side,” Howland said. “They have a good post player, Moses (Kingsley) is really good inside. They’re a good passing team. They’ve got two great shooters in (Anthlon) Bell (16.5 points per game) and (Dusty) Hannahs (17 points), so it’s a real daunting task.”

Newman (13.1 points) said he is especially excited about the man-to-man defense and said he thought they should have played the man more against the Razorbacks in the first game.

MSU’s eight conference losses have come by an average of 6.5 points. The Bulldogs have been in many games late, but haven’t been able to get over the hump. However, the Bulldogs said their spirits are high.

“We’re right there in all our games,” Newman said. “They’re hard fought and we’re always in the game. We just have to keep playing, keep fighting and hope for a better result. It’s the little things in the course of the game that we’re not doing that are costing us those close losses.”

Howland said his team has been really good in handling the grind of SEC play.

“Whether you’re winning or losing, it’s a grind,” Howland said. “You’ve got 18 games packed in there in less than three months. It’s a lot.”

After Arkansas, the Bulldogs host Georgia and Vanderbilt, both of who are in the middle of the pack in the SEC standings. MSU has just three road games remaining and five home games.

The three-game homestand could determine how the final eight games play out for the Bulldogs.

“Hopefully this can start a little winning streak for us, that’s the plan,” Newman said. “We’ll just see how it plays out.”

n Howland said he is unsure if junior point guard I.J. Ready will play.

The North Little Rock, Arkansas, native didn’t play against LSU in the last game with an upper back injury. Howland said he didn’t know Ready couldn’t play against the Tigers until right before tipoff.

Ready, who is averaging 10.1 points per game this season, had surgery last season on his lower back, but Howland said he doesn’t believe the two are related. He also said Ready has experienced back pain on several road games, so he doesn’t know if it’s just the travel that is affecting Ready or something else.

Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait

Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.