GameDay: Beat State, silence the bubble talk

Hey, horray we’re here talking about Mississippi State again!

If you want my previously stated opinion on the “rivalry” with Mississippi State, it’s here.

The only reason there is a rivalry is because they seem to play each other a lot. But I doubt Mizzou fans, or MSU fans, think about the other ever whenever they aren’t directly engaged in playing each other. But here we are, facing off for the second time this season, for the 7th time since Mizzou joined the SEC.

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Missouri and MSU met on January 31st in Columbia and the Tigers won 84-79. Mizzou was up by double digits most of the second half, but seemed to let the rope slip a bit after Annor Boateng left the game on a stretcher after a serious injury.

Missouri is favored in this game, but it’s a road game in the SEC, and the Tigers have lost to teams further down in the SEC standings than the Bulldogs. Mizzou has traversed to Starkville for a basketball game 10 times and they’ve won twice. Those two wins are by 42 and 27 points though. Weirdly enough those are the two largest margins of victory on the road for the Tigers since entering the SEC in 2012-13.

Mizzou is favored, they’ve been playing better, they have more to play for. Go win this one.

As the caledar flips to March I thought it would be interesting to look back at the month by month play of the good versions of Missouri under Dennis Gates.

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2023:

2025:

2026:

We’re still in February and Mizzou has been playing like the 21st best team in the country this month. MSU is rated as the 92nd best team in the same stretch. That works out to a 15 point difference per 100 possessions, or about 9 points on a neutral court, but on State’s home court, that’s probably a 4 point advantage. Vegas says Mizzou by 1.5.

Don’t gamble. But a win likely stops the bubble talk completely. Do it.

Missouri-Mississippi State Basketball: How to Watch, Game Info:

TIME: 12:00 p.m. CT

DATE: Saturday, February 28, 2026

LOCATION: ; Starkville, MS

TELEVISION: SEC…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/gameday-beat-state-silence-bubble-110000267.html

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Publish date : 2026-02-28 11:00:00

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