STARKVILLE — March is finally here, meaning in just a few weeks, the NCAA tournament will take place across the country.

Coming into Tuesday night’s game, Mississippi State had just two regular-season games left to prove itself to the selection committee and build its résumé for the Big Dance.

Any slip-up from now through the end of the week could spell disaster, but on senior night, the Bulldogs pulled through with a late, second-half surge over South Carolina for a 74-68 win.

Now, as MSU looks toward its regular-season finale Saturday at Vanderbilt on Saturday, just like on Tuesday, the Bulldogs are in must-win mode.

“We know what we have to do,” Tolu Smith said. “We have to take advantage of this opportunity. I try not to get into bracketology and stuff like that, but I know we just have to win out.

“Keep winning, that’s all it is. That’s what we’ll keep doing.”

A win would have only helped Mississippi State (20-10, 8-9 SEC) on Tuesday, with the Bulldogs checking in as one of ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi’s “Last Four In.” 

A Gamecocks team that was 10-19 coming in and 3-13 in the SEC was playing with house money while the Bulldogs were anything but.

The last time the two teams played was on Jan. 31, a 66-51 win in Columbia for MSU. But this time, the Gamecocks came out hot and came out firing early, using two hot stretches at the start of both halves to put the pressure on at the Hump.

“To me, in terms of where we’re at this season, it’s like we’re in tournament mode,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans said. “It’s survive and advance … At this point in the season, it’s all about winning the game.”

With South Carolina ranked 214th in the country in RPI and 234th in NET, a Quad 4 win won’t do much to the résumé, but Mississippi State couldn’t have afforded a Quad 4 loss at this point in the season.

It certainly looked as though the final regular-season game at The Hump was taking a turn for the worse, but great play from Shakeel Moore down the stretch — including taking two crucial charges in the final two minutes of the game — proved to be the difference.

In preparation for a potential run in March, the Bulldogs have had their fair share of playing in close games, with each of their last six games, including Tuesday, decided by single digits.

“As you get older, you understand that when you’re coming down the stretch, you just have to get the W’s,” Jans said. “You just have to string them together, and when you get into the tournament-type format, it doesn’t matter. You just have to find ways to win.

“You have to have some grit to you if you’re going to win tough games.”

Over those last six games, the Bulldogs are 4-2, losing a close overtime game at Missouri and falling at home to Kentucky in a 71-68 heartbreaker.

In what was a slow start to the conference schedule, they’ve clawed their way back to an 8-9 record with the ability to go .500 in the SEC with a win against the Commodores.

That would also be a Quad 2 road win for Mississippi State, looking to find any other way to beef up its tournament résumé with the SEC tournament in Nashville looming next week.

However, it’s not the metrics the Bulldogs are worried about now; it’s whether or not they can add a final win before tournament play begins.

Mississippi State and Vanderbilt tip off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday from Nashville.