Coming off a critical Southeastern Conference win, Mississippi State looks to continue building momentum when it visits South Carolina on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, S.C.
The Bulldogs (13-13, 5-8 SEC) picked up their second straight win with a 91-85 decision Wednesday at Auburn behind Josh Hubbard’s school-record 10 3-pointers and career-high 46 points.
Even with Hubbard’s historic performance, it took a total team effort to beat Auburn.
“Couldn’t be prouder of a group of young men that stayed together,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. “Our huddles were really good considering the circumstances. And we had a lot of kids in the last four minutes of the game make huge plays that helped us regain the lead and win the game.”
Jans and Mississippi State are leaning heavily on Hubbard, who leads the SEC in scoring at 22.4 points per game and has scored at least 30 points in three consecutive games.
Jayden Epps scored 13 points and Shawn Jones Jr. added 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots against the Tigers.
The Gamecocks (11-15, 2-11) fell 76-62 on Tuesday at No. 12 Florida. The defeat was their seventh loss in a row and 10th in their last 11 games.
Even with the losses, the games have come with lessons for the Gamecocks.
“Handling challenges is a thing that they’re not that familiar with,” South Carolina coach Lamont Paris said after the loss to the Gators. “Honestly as a coach, that’s one of your biggest responsibilities is to help them move forward in life handling adversity and challenges. So we focus on that, but I think they’ve been good. Their energy and their spirit has been really good.”
To break the losing streak, South Carolina will likely need a big game from Meechie Johnson. Johnson leads the team in scoring at 16.9 points per game and has scored in double figures in 12 consecutive games.
South Carolina’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, Mike Sharavjamts (10.7 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game), will try to boost a Gamecocks team that is last in the SEC in rebounding at 32.9 per contest.
