LSU (16-4, 5-2) @ Mississippi St (9-11, 2-5) - Sat 1:00pm - SECN

Who: LSU (16-4, 5-2) @ Mississippi St (9-11, 2-5)
When: Saturday, January 31 - 1:00pm central time
Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkvegas
How:
***TV: SECN
***Radio: 98.1fm
***Stream: SECN+ via ESPN3.com

LSU is in a prime spot to make a mid SEC slate run with a road game against Mississippi St before having an unusual 3 straight home games, ending with Kentucky in a matchup everyone is anxious to see, but it has to start in Starkville with a win over a physical Mississippi St team.

The Bulldogs record does not put fear in their opponents, but they play teams tougher than that record indicates. In their last two games they lost by only 6 points to both Georgia and Ole Miss. This is a game that LSU has to play good basketball.

LSU will likely attack the Bulldogs with a Starting Lineup that has become common with Gray, Hornsby, Martin, Mickey, and Malone. Mississippi St will likely counter with Ready (5'11" 170), Sword (6'3" 194), Johnson (6'7" 210), Daniels (6'8" 215), and Ware (6'9" 260). Johnson is the only Bulldog averaging double figure scoring and still barely sits above 10 points per game.

As a team, turnovers have haunted MSU. They aren't a very great three point shooting team either, so forcing the Bulldogs to pass around the perimeter could help force fast breaks via turnovers. Look for both teams to use a lot of zone in this one unless one of the teams proves they can hit three pointers.

Prediction:
LSU 76, Mississippi St 69