SEC Basketball Preview/Prediction: Missouri at Mississippi State

Mississippi State-Missouri

Missouri visits Mississippi State on Tuesday in a key SEC basketball matchup. Look inside for a preview of the game along with a prediction of the game’s final score.

By 14Powers Hoops

Stats | RPI | Players | Scouting Report | Prediction | Time/TV

Team Statistical Comparison

FG% 3PT% FT% ORB TRB AST STL BLK TO
Missouri 0.438 0.324 0.735 156 532 187 116 44 212
Missouri OPP 0.376 0.289 0.761 131 479 145 82 51 236
Mississippi State 0.452 0.329 0.713 210 581 201 95 79 222
Mississippi State OPP 0.415 0.329 0.701 166 470 175 111 45 194

Stats | RPI | Players | Scouting Report | Prediction | Time/TV

Statistical Leaders

Missouri Scoring Leaders

PLAYER TEAM PPG FGM FTM 3PTM
Dru Smith Missouri 12.0 60 48 12
Mark Smith Missouri 11.3 53 27 37
Jeremiah Tilmon Missouri 9.0 42 23 1
Xavier Pinson Missouri 7.8 38 32 9
Javon Pickett Missouri 7.7 47 14 8
Kobe Brown Missouri 5.8 36 6 9
Torrence Watson Missouri 5.1 25 6 20
Mitchell Smith Missouri 4.7 23 10 10
Tray Jackson Missouri 2.7 10 10 2
Reed Nikko Missouri 2.6 15 6 0

Missouri Rebounding Leaders

PLAYER TEAM OR DR TR RPG
Mark Smith Missouri 6 66 72 4.8
Dru Smith Missouri 17 46 63 4.2
Javon Pickett Missouri 24 37 61 4.1
Mitchell Smith Missouri 11 40 51 3.6
Jeremiah Tilmon Missouri 23 28 51 4.3
Kobe Brown Missouri 16 29 45 3.0
Reed Nikko Missouri 16 16 32 2.3
Xavier Pinson Missouri 8 23 31 2.1
Torrence Watson Missouri 2 22 24 1.6
Tray Jackson Missouri 5 18 23 1.9
Parker Braun Missouri 2 10 12 1.2
Mario McKinney Jr. Missouri 5 6 11 1.6
Axel Okongo Missouri 0 1 1 0.5
Evan Yerkes Missouri 1 0 1 0.5

Mississippi State Scoring Leaders

PLAYER TEAM PPG FGM FTM 3PTM
Reggie Perry Mississippi State 15.5 87 48 11
Tyson Carter Mississippi State 13.5 62 51 27
Robert Woodard II Mississippi State 11.5 64 26 18
Iverson Molinar Mississippi State 8.2 42 29 10
D.J. Stewart Jr. Mississippi State 8.2 48 15 12
Abdul Ado Mississippi State 5.9 31 27 0
KeyShawn Feazell Mississippi State 2.0 11 4 4
Prince Oduro Mississippi State 1.8 6 10 0

Mississippi State Rebounding Leaders

PLAYER TEAM OR DR TR RPG
Reggie Perry Mississippi State 53 97 150 10.0
Robert Woodard II Mississippi State 42 76 118 7.9
Abdul Ado Mississippi State 54 54 108 7.2
KeyShawn Feazell Mississippi State 9 29 38 2.5
Tyson Carter Mississippi State 4 33 37 2.5
D.J. Stewart Jr. Mississippi State 3 23 26 1.7
Iverson Molinar Mississippi State 5 12 17 1.1
Nick Weatherspoon Mississippi State 2 13 15 3.0
Prince Oduro Mississippi State 6 7 13 1.1
Quinten Post Mississippi State 1 4 5 1.3
Devin Butts Mississippi State 1 0 1 0.3
Elias King Mississippi State 0 1 1 0.3
Mitchell Storm Mississippi State 0 1 1 1.0

Stats | RPI | Players | Scouting Report | Prediction | Time/TV

Humphrey Coliseum
Humphrey Coliseum

NCAA RPI

Missouri: 57

Mississippi State: 80

Missouri Roster

No. Name Pos. HT WT Class City-State
0 Torrence Watson G 6′-5″ 205 SO St. Louis, MO
1 Xavier Pinson G 6′-2″ 170 SO Chicago, IL
2 Tray Jackson F 6′-8″ 215 FR Detroit, MI
4 Javon Pickett G 6′-5″ 220 SO Belleville, IL
5 Mitchell Smith F 6′-10″ 221 JR Van Buren, AR
10 Evan Yerkes G 6′-3″ 187 SO Tinley Park, IL
11 Mario McKinney Jr. G 6′-2″ 185 FR St. Louis, MO
12 Dru Smith G 6′-3″ 203 JR Evansville, IN
13 Mark Smith G 6′-5″ 220 JR Edwardsville, IL
14 Reed Nikko F 6′-10″ 240 SR Maple Grove, MN
15 Axel Okongo F 7′-0″ 240 JR Saacy-sur-Marne, France
23 Jeremiah Tilmon F 6′-10″ 260 JR East Saint Louis, IL
24 Kobe Brown F 6′-7″ 240 FR Huntsville, AL
25 Brooks Ford G 6′-0″ 187 SO St. Louis, MO
42 Parker Braun F 6′-8″ 217 FR Overland Park, KS

Mississippi State Roster

No. Name Pos. HT WT Class City-State
0 Nick Weatherspoon G 6′-2″ 185 JR Canton, MS
1 Reggie Perry F 6′-10″ 250 SO Thomasville, GA
2 Elias King F 6′-8″ 205 FR Suwanee, GA
3 D.J. Stewart Jr. G 6′-6″ 200 FR Grace, MS
4 Devin Butts G 6′-5″ 180 FR Macon, GA
5 Iverson Molinar G 6′-3″ 195 FR Marietta, GA
10 Tate Clayton G 6′-2″ 170 JR Tupelo, MS
12 Robert Woodard II G 6′-7″ 230 SO Columbus, MS
13 Reggie Miller G 6′-5″ 185 SR Saltillo, MS
15 Prince Oduro F 6′-8″ 250 SO Toronto, ON
20 Mitch Storm F 6′-7″ 200 SR Madison, MS
21 Justin Rumph G 6′-5″ 215 JR Birmingham, AL
22 KeyShawn Feazell F 6′-8″ 225 JR Newhebron, MS
23 Tyson Carter G 6′-4″ 175 SR Starkville, MS
24 Abdul Ado F 6′-11″ 255 JR Lagos, Nigeria
25 Isaac Stansbury G 6′-1″ 160 FR Bowling Green, KY
30 Andrew Junkin F 6′-11″ 240 FR New Hope, MS
32 Quinten Post F 7′-0″ 225 FR Amsterdam, The Netherlands
35 Tolu Smith F 6′-10″ 240 SO Bay Saint Louis, MS
45 E.J. Datcher C 6′-10″ 255 SR Harpersville, AL

Stats | RPI | Players | Scouting Report | Prediction | Time/TV

Scouting Report


Mississippi State (9-6, 0-3 SEC) fell to LSU 60-59 on Saturday night in Baton Rouge. The Tigers built a 23-12 lead with 7:07 remaining in the first half and would head to halftime leading 30-22. In the second half the Bulldogs slowly cut into the Tigers lead. With 14:22 remaining a Nick Weatherspoon dunk put the Bulldogs on top 36-35. The lead then changed hands several times before State built a 53-44 lead with 5:19 to play. LSU then went on a 13-2 run to take a 57-55 lead with just over a minute to play. State’s Reggie Perry made a layup with 6 seconds to play to put State up 59-58 but LSU Skylar Mays’ jumper with one second to play gave LSU the victory. Weatherspoon led the Bulldogs in scoring with 14. Tiger forward Emmitt Williams paced the Tigers and led all scorers with 17 points. Both teams struggled from 3-point range with LSU making just 3 of 17 and State hitting only 2 of 21 attempts.

Forward Reggie Perry leads in Bulldogs in both scoring (15.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.6 rpg). Two other players Tyson Carter (14.1 ppg) and Robert Woodard II (12.0 ppg) average in double figures. Guard Nick Weatherspoon has returned to the team after a long suspension and is averaging 14 points in the four games he’s played in so far this season. Mississippi State is third in the SEC in 3-point shooting accuracy (34%) but the Dogs have only made 238 attempts. That’s fewer than any other SEC team except for Kentucky (219). State’s biggest strength is rebounding. They are third in the SEC in rebounding margin (+6.6). MSU is also third in the SEC in blocks shots ( 5.3 bpg).

Missouri (9-6, 1-2 SEC) surprisingly dominated this game from start to finish, 91-75. In the first half the Tigers bolted to 11-5 lead at the 13:56 mark on a dunk by forward Reed Nikko. That lead bulged to 29-18 with 8:28 to go in the half. The Tigers would head to halftime with an impressive 51-35 lead. In the second half Florida cut the Tigers’ lead to 11 with 13:20 remaining in the game but the lead was back up to 23 with five minutes to go and the Gators never mounted a real threat. Guard Dru Smith was the Tiger’s leader in scoring with 22. Florida big man Kerry Blackshear Jr. paced the Gators with 22 as well. This was a game in which the Tigers were just flamming red hot at shooting. They hit 61% from field range and an even better 63% from 3-point range. Florida made a respectable 10 of 23 from beyond the arc and 78% from the line.

Guard Dru Smith leads the Tigers in scoring (12.3 ppg). He also is No. 1 in the SEC in steals with 34 and is over 87% for his free throws. Another Smith, guard Mark Smith, is the second leading scorer (11.3 ppg). Mark also is the rebounding leader of the team (4.8 rpg). Yes, there is a third Smith on the team, forward Mitchell Smith. Missouri is among the worst teams in the SEC in scoring offense averaging just 68.3 points per contest. However, the Tigers are the best team in the league in scoring defense, allowing just 58.9 points a game. Mizzou is No. 2 in the SEC in field goal defense (37.6%) and No. 3 in 3-point defense (28.9%).

These two teams have had a rough first three games in conference play. Mizzou took out their early frustrations on Florida on Saturday. I expect Mississippi State to do the same thing to Missouri on Tuesday.

Missouri-Mississippi State Prediction

Mississippi State 77, Missouri 71


Tuesday‘s game tips off at 9:00 p.m. ET. TV: SEC Network.

Stats | RPI | Players | Scouting Report | Prediction | Time/TV

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