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The Mississippi State Bulldogs (10-14) welcome the Vanderbilt Commodores (15-10) to Humphrey Coliseum Tuesday night for an SEC showdown. The Commodores are currently tied for fourth in the conference with a 7-5 record, while the Bulldogs are near the bottom with only a 3-9 conference record.
The Commodores come into this game riding a two game win streak including their most recent victory over Auburn this past weekend 86-57. Center Damian Jones led the team with 17 points and nine boards in twenty-five minutes of play. Jones is second on the team currently with 13.6 PPG; he only trails guard Wade Baldwin IV who is averaging 14.5 PPG.
Vanderbilt struggles greatly when they hit the road; they have a 2-7 record when not playing at home. Most SEC teams struggle on the road this season with South Carolina the only team with a record on the road above .500. The Commodores do play stingy defense though and give up only 66.6 points a game. Head coach Kevin Stallings says his team needs to stick to the fundamentals on defense and offense.
Mississippi State has struggled this season especially when it comes to conference play. The Bulldogs are second to last in the conference with only a 3-9 SEC record including their most recent loss to the other SEC Bulldogs..Georgia. Mississippi State will does perform better at home where they are 7-5 compared to an abysmal 1-7 road record.
Forward Gavin Ware leads this team with 16 PPG, but the Bulldogs have three other players averaging over 10 PPG including talented-freshman Malik Newman.
Newman on Vanderbilt: "They are a talented team that plays hard and are well-coached."
— Mississippi State Men's Basketball (@HailStateMBK) February 15, 2016
Tip-off for this game is set for 9 p.m.
