Missouri-Mississippi State basketball preview
12:30 p.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia
• TV/RADIO:KSMO (Ch. 62); KMBZ (980 AM, 98.1 FM)
• ABOUT MISSISSIPPI STATE (13-15, 3-12 SEC):The Bulldogs have lost 10 straight games and are 0-7 in SEC road games. In fact, Mississippi State has only lost by fewer than 10 points in one of those conference road games and is tied for last place at 3-12 with South Carolina. The Bulldogs are 0-2 in Columbia. Sophomore Craig Sword can be an explosive scorer. He erupted for 33 two weeks ago against LSU. Mississippi State isn’t a very good three-point shooting team at 30.4 percent for the season and making only 4.6 threes per game.
• ABOUT MISSOURI (19-9, 7-8 SEC):The Tigers seemed to turn a corner with a three-game home win streak against Arkansas, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Of course, back-to-back road losses at Alabama and Georgia have left Missouri back on the bubble for a sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Tigers’ RPI will take a hit against Mississippi State, because it will hurt Missouri’s strength of schedule. The Tigers will take a third crack at reaching 20 wins for the sixth straight season behind juniors Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson, who are the nation’s third-highest scoring pair at 38.6 points per game.
• BOTTOM LINE:A loss to Mississippi State would effectively cripple any NCAA Tournament hopes, barring a championship run in the SEC Tournament. Not that Tigers fans should worry too much against a Bulldogs team ranked No. 223 in the NCAA’s RPI. Missouri is 13-2 at home and believes that Mizzou Arena is the perfect prescription for ending the recent slide.
| P | No. | Mississippi State | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
| F | 20 | Gavin Ware | 6-9 | So. | 10.3 |
| F | 25 | Roquez Johnson | 6-7 | Jr. | 9.7 |
| G | 4 | Trivante Bloodman | 6-0 | Jr. | 6.7 |
| G | 15 | I.J. Ready | 5-11 | Fr. | 6.3 |
| G | 32 | Craig Sword | 6-3 | So. | 13.3 |
| P | No. | Missouri | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
| F | 3 | Johnathan Williams III | 6-9 | Fr. | 6.1 |
| F | 44 | Ryan Rosburg | 6-10 | So. | 4.8 |
| G | 5 | Jordan Clarkson | 6-5 | Jr. | 18.6 |
| G | 32 | Jabari Brown | 6-5 | Jr. | 20.1 |
| G | 33 | Earnest Ross | 6-5 | Sr. | 14.3 |
This story was originally published February 28, 2014 at 1:56 PM with the headline "Missouri-Mississippi State basketball preview."