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This Saturday, the LSU Tigers will host the Mississippi State Bulldogs in an SEC men’s basketball matchup at 7 p.m.
LSU Coming In
The Tigers, currently sitting at 17-7 overall and 5-6 in conference play, are coming off a win at Texas A&M.
https://twitter.com/LSUBasketball/status/1491476262283628551?cxt=HHwWjsC-xcTw5LIpAAAA
Despite the win, though, it’s far from sunshine and rainbows in Baton Rouge. The purple and gold have been struggling lately, losing six of eight – with their only two wins both coming at the expense of a poor A&M team.
However, it’s not all bleak either. Sophomore Tari Eason has been reason alone to be excited as a fan of the Tigers. The 6’8 forward is having a breakout season, more than doubling his freshman-year output on far better efficiency across the board. Senior forward Darius Days is putting together a nice year for LSU as well – a reliable piece despite being down in efficiency this season. The two forwards combine to score over 40% of the team’s total points on average.
The Tigers are going to need big games from them both Saturday against a seemingly coequal Mississippi State Bulldogs team.
Mississippi State Coming In
Those Bulldogs, at 14-9 overall and 5-5 in conference play, are coming off a loss to Tennessee.
— Mississippi State Men's Basketball (@HailStateMBK) February 10, 2022
They’re in somewhat of a similar boat to LSU, struggling as of late. They’ve lost two in a row and four of five.
In wake of a thus-far unexciting season, though, senior Iverson Molinar has been able to put together quite the year for the Bulldogs. The 6’3 guard is putting up over 18 points, three rebounds and four assists a game on just under 50% from the field. Outside of a peculiarly substandard year shooting the three, Molinar’s numbers are the best they’ve been in his time at Mississippi State. He’s coming off of a 16 point, three rebound and five assist performance.
He’ll be big for the Bulldogs this weekend, looking to make a statement against an SEC rival.
SEC Outlook
Currently, in the 2022 SEC men’s basketball standings, the Tigers are right on the Bulldogs’ tail. Both are in the middle of the pack, with 5-6 and 5-5 conference records, respectively. LSU finds itself right above Alabama, and Mississippi State is looking up at Florida.
One would presume that a win for the Tigers on Saturday would mean they jump the Bulldogs in the standings. This would put them in prime position to threaten the Gators in the coming weeks.
A win for Mississippi State would essentially parallel them with Florida record-wise, in both overall record and conference-play.
As the college basketball season gets deeper and deeper into it’s back-half, each game becomes more and more meaningful. Each game becomes more and more of a must-win, especially when your in in the middle of a conference like the SEC – where one win or loss can change the standings and your teams outlook dramatically.
This Saturday, the Tigers will look to protect their home versus a hungry group of Dawgs.
