What to Know and How to Watch: Mississippi State Basketball vs. Florida in the SEC Tournament

Mississippi State finished out its regular season as one of the SEC's top teams, winning eight of its 11 final games. 

To start off action in the SEC tournament the Bulldogs won 69-62 against Texas A&M, won 74-68 against South Carolina and lost 72-77 against Vanderbilt. 

Florida ended its regular season with back to back wins against Georgia (77-67) and against LSU (79-67). The Gators are a strong team and had a signature win against Tennessee (67-54) during the regular season.

Mississippi State's defense is looking competitive coming up against Florida. State has the nation's only program to rank inside the top 15 scoring defense (60.4 - second SEC and 8th nationally). State ranked third in the SEC and tenth nationally in opponent field goal percentage. They also ranked third in the SEC and 17th nationally for steals.

The Bulldogs have a history of three wins against Florida in the last five games played since the 2018-19 season.

One of the biggest players to watch during this game is standout forward Tolu Smith. Smith is Mississippi's top college player, he was recently awarded the 2023 Bailey Howell Trophy. He has also been selected for the All-SEC First Team and All-Sec Preseason First-Team accolades. Smith is an aggressive forward who will bring a lot to the game against Florida.

Other high-scoring stars taking the court for MSU include the likes of D.J. Jeffries, Cameron Matthews, and Shakeel Moore. Jeffries provided double figures in three out of his last five outings and in 16 games total. Matthews collected a season's best and SEC career-high 17 points with seven rebounds and three assists. Moore was one of three SEC players on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List. 

He has tallied multiple steals in 43 of 88 career games and his 1.8 steals per contest are eight on the SEC leaderboard.

It's clear MSU does not lack talent this year and that this will be a team to watch as March Madness continues.

Mississippi State (20-11, 8-10 SEC) will go head to head with Florida (16-15, 9-9 SEC) in the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Tennessee, Thursday March 9th at 1 p.m. EST. The game will be streamed on the SEC Network.