After coming up just short in one of the greatest games of the current college basketball season Tuesday night against No. 16 Kentucky, Mississippi State has another challenge ahead Saturday afternoon with a visit to No. 11 Auburn.
The Bulldogs (19-9, 8-7 Southeastern Conference) upset the then-No. 8 Tigers (21-7, 10-5) by six points at Humphrey Coliseum in late January, but a visit to Neville Arena is a much more daunting prospect. Auburn has lost just once at home all season — a 70-59 defeat against Kentucky on Feb. 17 — and is among the SEC’s strongest teams on both ends of the floor.
After MSU’s victory over the Tigers in Starkville, Auburn won three straight games, highlighted by a 99-81 triumph over bitter rival Alabama, but has been somewhat up-and-down since then. The Tigers beat a ranked South Carolina team by 40 at home, but lost by 16 at Florida and came up short in their last game Wednesday night at No. 4 Tennessee.
The Bulldogs’ defense was at its best in the teams’ first meeting, holding Auburn to 34 percent shooting overall and 25 percent from 3-point range. Johni Broome remains the Tigers’ leading scorer and rebounder with 16.3 points and 8.6 boards per game, with the latter total putting him in second place in the SEC. He is also second in the conference with 2.4 blocked shots per contest.
Jaylin Williams and sixth man Chad Baker-Mazara, both excellent 3-point shooters, also average double-figure scoring for Auburn. As a team, the Tigers trail only Kentucky and Alabama in the SEC in field goal percentage, and they top the conference in assists per game.
Auburn’s defense is perhaps even more impressive — the Tigers allow fewer points than anyone in the SEC outside of South Carolina and Tennessee and are virtually dead even with MSU. Only the Volunteers hold opponents to a lower field goal percentage, and only the Bulldogs hold opponents to a lower 3-point percentage. Auburn also forces 13.1 turnovers per game, among the highest rates in the SEC.
Here are three keys to victory for MSU as the Bulldogs look for their third straight road win.
Dominate the boards
MSU outrebounded Auburn 45-30 in the teams’ first meeting, including a 14-6 edge on the offensive glass. Tolu Smith had eight boards in that game, but it was the Olive Branch boys, D.J. Jeffries and Cameron Matthews, who combined for 23. Broome, the second-leading rebounder in the SEC, pulled down just seven boards. If the Bulldogs can limit the Tigers’ second-chance opportunities and create some of their own, they can give themselves a chance for the road upset win.
Slow the game down
As little sense as it might seem to make against such a strong defensive team, it worked for MSU last time. The Bulldogs are more comfortable playing fast now than they were a month ago — they were able to match Kentucky’s pace for most of Tuesday night’s game — but it’s not the way they prefer to operate. MSU is at its best when it can draw out possessions, finding an opening for Smith in the post or a clean look from outside.
Stay composed
This goes hand-in-hand with keeping the pace slow, but in a hostile road environment, the Bulldogs will need to avoid letting the crowd affect them — or better yet, make the crowd less of a factor than it usually is on The Plains. MSU has struggled on the road for most of the year in tough buildings like Kentucky’s Rupp Arena and Alabama’s Coleman Coliseum, but dominated LSU in Baton Rouge last Saturday.
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