Five Things To Know MSU-South Carolina

by Matt Dunaway, Director/Communications
 
COLUMBIA, South Carolina – Mississippi State men’s basketball turns its attention to its 18-game SEC gauntlet as the Bulldogs face the first of four straight NCAA NET Quad 1 challenges to begin SEC action at South Carolina on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bulldogs (11-2, 0-0 SEC) are scheduled to have eight of their first nine SEC games as NCAA NET Quad 1 opportunities. Overall, State is joined by Arkansas and Vanderbilt slated to have 10-plus NCAA NET Quad 1 contests during its league docket.   
 
The Maroon and White’s non-conference resume is headlined by a quartet of Power 5 neutral court victories over Arizona State (Pac-12), Northwestern (Big Ten), Rutgers (Big Ten) and Washington State (Pac-12). Only the Bulldogs and Memphis possess at least four non-conference wins over Power 5 opponents on road/neutral floors this season.
 
State is joined by Florida Atlantic as the only teams in the country to amass six neutral court victories in 2023-24. The Bulldogs also defeated North Texas (American) and Tulane (American) en route to their six neutral court triumphs by an average of 15.7 points per contest.
 
State capped the non-conference slate with an 85-62 victory over Bethune-Cookman behind a season’s best 15 steals. The Bulldogs also canned double-digit treys for the fourth time in 2023-24 and had four players connected on multiple three-pointers.
 
State features a suffocating defense under second-year coach Chris Jans after being one of two teams to rank inside the nation’s top 25 in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense and steals in 2022-23.
 
Once again, the Bulldogs are back at it as one of five squads nationally among the NCAA’s top 30 in three categories: three-point field goal percentage defense (26.3 – 1st SEC – 7th nationally), scoring defense (62.7 – 1st SEC – 17th nationally) and field goal percentage defense (38.7 – 2nd SEC – 25th nationally).
 
State also possesses national top 15 rankings from KenPom.com in two additional categories: effective field goal percentage defense (43.6 – 10th) and adjusted defensive efficiency (92.6 – 12th).
 
The Maroon and White has drained 103 three-pointers which is fourth-most in program history over the team’s first 13 games. Josh Hubbard, Trey Fort, Dashawn Davis and D.J….