Bulldogs Cruise Past MVSU, 82-63

In case you've been in a coma the past few days, Mississippi State lost to Arkansas 81-72 in the SEC semis and thus, not surprisingly, did not get into the NCAA tournament. They did however wind up getting a #1 seed in the NIT, and homecourt advantage up to the semifinals, and played Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday. Now I know nobody is thrilled about being in the NIT, but I think this can be a good experience for the team.

I'm not going to go into detail on this game. MVSU was just outmatched. As an example, Mississippi State had the clear size advantage in this game. Seriously, if you're smaller than MSU as a team, you're in some trouble. In any case, it wasn't expected to be a close game and it lived up to the billing despite MSU not shooting all that well. Gordon had 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists; Rhodes and Hansbrough had 21 and 15 respectively.

Bradley beat Providence in overtime, 90-78, Wednesday night and will be Miss. State's next opponent. This game will likely be much more difficult and could easily result in a MSU loss. They shoot an astounding .427 from 3pt range and have one player who is over 50% for the year. This is a guard-oriented team and like MVSU is one of the few teams Miss. St will have a size advantage over. On the season they're averaging a -7 rebounding margin, so I would expect State to control the paint but whether or not they can slow down the perimeter players will determine the winner.