Mizzou basketball betting odds & SEC Tournament preview: First up? Mississippi State
A three-game losing skid wasn’t what Mizzou needed as the regular season came to an end.
The No. 22 Tigers played themselves out of the top 20 in the most recent AP Poll, and they fell down to the No. 7 seed at the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
Mizzou received a first-round bye for the tournament and patiently watched Wednesday night as No. 10 seed Mississippi State and No. 15 seed LSU squared off to set up the second-round matchup.
Now, here come the Bulldogs, as the Tigers have officially reached their first test of the postseason.
Mississippi State rolled into a 91-62 win over LSU on Wednesday, the Bulldogs’ largest margin of victory in an SEC Tournament game.
In the regular-season meeting between the two, Mizzou posted its largest road win in program history, an 88-61 triumph over the Bulldogs in Starkville. Caleb Grill led the Tigers with 20 points in the first meeting.
Here are some things to know before the Tigers square off against Mississippi State at 6 p.m. Thursday...
Mizzou vs. Mississippi State: SEC Tournament game
Tipoff: 6 p.m. Central
Where: Bridgestone Arena (Nashville)
TV: SEC Network
Betting line: Missouri by 2.5
O/U: 155.5 points
About the Bulldogs...
1. The Bulldogs ended their regular season in similar fashion to the Tigers. The Bulldogs lost their last two narrowly between an 87-82 OT loss to Texas at home and 93-92 loss to Arkansas in Fayetteville. Essentially, both teams desperately need to get right with the SEC Tournament underway.
2. The Tigers have won 2 of 3 in this matchup, but ... the Bulldogs have taken eight of the last 10 over Mizzou, and 13 of the last 16. In all, MSU is 14-7 all-time against the Tigers.
3. Watch out for Josh Hubbard. The 5-foot-11 sophomore just posted 26 points in 26 minutes against LSU and has been the leading scorer for the Bulldogs all season. Averaging 18.3 points per game, he’s been especially dominant in SEC play (19.2 per game). He also went 6-of-12 from 3-point range against LSU, which brings us to this next point ...
4. The Bulldogs will be shooting a lot from behind the arc. Mississippi State is third in the SEC in 3-point attempts, averaging 26.5 shots from behind the arc. They shoot just 31.3%, however, though the Bulldogs saw an improved mark against LSU. In Wednesday’s tournament game, MSU went 15-for-34 from deep (44.1%).
That’s a bad omen for Mizzou. The Bulldogs made their most 3s in a game since March 2019 on Wednesday.
5. The Bulldogs’ defense fell apart down the stretch. Wednesday against LSU marked the fewest amount of points allowed by MSU since a 70-54 win versus Texas A&M on Feb. 18. Since then, the Bulldogs allowed an average of 90.6 points (set off by 111 points from Alabama) in their last five headed into Wednesday.
