Mississippi State set to face lowly Prairie View A&M

Field Level Media|published: Sat 7th December, 17:17 2024

Oct 15, 2024; Birmingham, AL, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Chris Jans talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

Mississippi State is looking for its second straight win as struggling Prairie View A&M heads to Starkville, Miss., for a Sunday afternoon showdown.

The Bulldogs (7-1) fell out of the AP Top 25 poll this week after an 87-77 setback to Butler last Friday at the Arizona Classic.

Mississippi State rebounded with a decisive 90-57 home win over No. 18 Pittsburgh on Wednesday, led by reserve KeShawn Murphy's 20 points and Michael Nwoko's double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds). If the Bulldogs take care of business on Sunday, the presumption is they will rejoin next week's poll.

"I didn't know (what the response would be)," Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. "That's the response that we all wanted, but I didn't know what it was going to look like. We were obviously a little down on returning from Phoenix and not winning the final game."

The Bulldogs are led in scoring by guard Josh Hubbard, who averages 18.2 points per game on 46.8 percent shooting from the field. Murphy averages 12.3 points and a team-high 8.8 rebounds per game, while Cameron Matthews leads the team with 3.5 assists and 2.9 steals.

Prairie View A&M (1-7) remains winless in Division I play and ranked 348th out 364 teams in the NCAA's NET rankings. The Panthers won their season opener against NAIA foe College of Biblical Studies but have fallen by an average of 24 points against Division I opponents, with their closest call being an 84-81 loss to Incarnate Word on Nov. 12.

The Panthers are led by guard Nick Anderson, who is averaging at 18.6 points per game on 45.3 percent shooting. Tanahj Pettway is second on the team at 14.6 points. Prairie View is coming off a 29-point loss at UAB on Friday despite Anderson's 15 points.

"They zoned us the whole game," UAB coach Andy Kennedy said. "They play a matchup zone. They started their four best players, which are all perimeter players, with one post guy and they've kind of done different things. That's what they probably should do from a matchup standpoint, and then (they) just tried to attack us off the dribble."

--Field Level Media