Vanderbilt is a 13.5-point underdog.
Hard to win in Starkville, ask Tennessee. Mississippi State isn't all that dissimilar to Auburn in that it's long, athletic, experienced and has tremendous frontcourt play. Tolu Smith is one of the best bigs in the league and has completley carried them in a few games this year.
Smith is averaging 18.6 and seven while shooting 62.7% from the field. Gonna be very difficult for Ven-Allen Lubin and Carter Lang to deal with. That's not to mention Bell and Matthews who are averaging 7.5 and 6.3 rebounds per game, respectively. KenPom has them as the 50th best team in offensive rebounding percentage. With the way Vanderbilt has struggled on the defensive glass lately it feels as if that's a stat worth monitoring.
Mississippi State also has the capability to force some pick-six type turnovers that could put Vanderbilt in a hole. Vandy turned it over nine times against them last year and it cost them 16 points.
The stat that I see really killing Vanderbilt is Miss St. being the eighth best 3-point defense in the country. That has been a glaring weak spot of Vanderbilt's offense and something that will continue Saturday if the numbers are any indication. Don't bank on the out of character 3-point barrage in this one. Vanderbilt has to find a way to move it better and play as a whole, though. Iso ball won't cut it against that team in that arena.
I do think Vanderbilt's guard play may be better than Mississippi State's, their 5-foot-10 freshman Josh Hubbard is tremendous and averaging 14.4 points per game. They've gotta outplay Hubbard and Shakeel Moore to have a chance.
Here's what Stackhouse said about them:
"Yeah, they look like Tulo (Tolu) Smith. He's been a load for a long time. He's been here as long as I've been here, literally. He's a load down there, they've got another big coming off the bench who doesn't let up and who posts up hard, as well. They've got guards that can make shots. They defend. Similar to the team that we played last night (Auburn) but maybe even more physical on the block with their intent to try to get the ball to him. We got our work cut out for him. I do think if we move the ball and share the ball the way we're capable of we can have some success on the offensive end but we're gonna have to have a really physical disposition on the defensive end to be able to combat their attack."
Hard to win in Starkville, ask Tennessee. Mississippi State isn't all that dissimilar to Auburn in that it's long, athletic, experienced and has tremendous frontcourt play. Tolu Smith is one of the best bigs in the league and has completley carried them in a few games this year.
Smith is averaging 18.6 and seven while shooting 62.7% from the field. Gonna be very difficult for Ven-Allen Lubin and Carter Lang to deal with. That's not to mention Bell and Matthews who are averaging 7.5 and 6.3 rebounds per game, respectively. KenPom has them as the 50th best team in offensive rebounding percentage. With the way Vanderbilt has struggled on the defensive glass lately it feels as if that's a stat worth monitoring.
Mississippi State also has the capability to force some pick-six type turnovers that could put Vanderbilt in a hole. Vandy turned it over nine times against them last year and it cost them 16 points.
The stat that I see really killing Vanderbilt is Miss St. being the eighth best 3-point defense in the country. That has been a glaring weak spot of Vanderbilt's offense and something that will continue Saturday if the numbers are any indication. Don't bank on the out of character 3-point barrage in this one. Vanderbilt has to find a way to move it better and play as a whole, though. Iso ball won't cut it against that team in that arena.
I do think Vanderbilt's guard play may be better than Mississippi State's, their 5-foot-10 freshman Josh Hubbard is tremendous and averaging 14.4 points per game. They've gotta outplay Hubbard and Shakeel Moore to have a chance.
Here's what Stackhouse said about them:
"Yeah, they look like Tulo (Tolu) Smith. He's been a load for a long time. He's been here as long as I've been here, literally. He's a load down there, they've got another big coming off the bench who doesn't let up and who posts up hard, as well. They've got guards that can make shots. They defend. Similar to the team that we played last night (Auburn) but maybe even more physical on the block with their intent to try to get the ball to him. We got our work cut out for him. I do think if we move the ball and share the ball the way we're capable of we can have some success on the offensive end but we're gonna have to have a really physical disposition on the defensive end to be able to combat their attack."
