SEC PREVIEW: South Carolina Hosts Mississippi State In Men’s Hoops

The South Carolina Gamecocks (17-2 4-2 SEC) host the Mississippi State Bulldogs (8-10 1-5 SEC) Tuesday night in an SEC men’s basketball match up. This is one of four SEC battles taking place Tuesday night.

After starting out the season on a 15 game winning streak, the Gamecocks have cooled down losing two out of their last four. Their most recent loss came on Saturday to Tennessee 78-69. The loss caused the Gamecocks to fall out of the AP Top 25 rankings, but they still are ranked 22^nd in the Coaches Poll.

One advantage the Gamecocks have though is their ability to spread the ball on the offensive side. South Carolina currently has five players averaging over 10 points per game. Senior Michael Carrera leads the squad at 12.6 points per game. Mississippi State currently allows 74.2 points a game, ranking them 239^th in the nation, a statistic that could favor South Carolina.

Mississippi State comes into this game after defeating Ole Miss last Saturday 83-77, a win that broke a five game losing streak and gave the Bulldogs their first SEC victory.  The Bulldogs are led by senior big man Gavin Ware who is averaging 16.2 points per game. Top freshman recruit Malik Newman is second on the team at 13.4 points per game.  The Bulldogs recently played Florida tough in Gainesville before losing so their play of late has gotten better.

South Carolina head coach Frank Martin believes Mississippi State is starting to figure things out and sees them becoming a better team.

This game tips-off at 7:00 p.m.