Michigan State basketball leads the all-time series against Mississippi State but can the Spartans improve that record on Thursday?
Michigan State basketball is ready to begin their NCAA Tournament run as they take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the first round of the tournament. As you can imagine, this matchup hasn’t occurred very often, but you might be surprised by how long it’s been.
Michigan State is undefeated in this series
The Spartans and Bulldogs have faced off three times before, with Michigan State holding a 3-0 record in those games. The last game came in January of 1972 when the Spartans beat Mississippi State in a neutral site game 90-82.
The other two matchups came in 1934 and 1948, which were both victories for the Spartans. Obviously those games being so long ago means that there is no history between these programs that will impact this meeting on Thursday. But nonetheless, it’s still exciting to say the Bulldogs have never been able to beat Michigan State.
Mississippi State’s season in review
The Bulldogs are coming off an eerily similar regular season to Michigan State. Mississippi State finished 21-13 overall and 8-10 in SEC play. The Bulldogs also didn’t have any horrific losses this season, which is similar to the Spartans. But the Bulldogs also have some major wins on their resume.
Mississippi State beat Tennessee twice this season, who just so happens to be a 2-seed in the tournament this year. They also have a top-10 win against Auburn to add to their resume as well. But where these teams are the most similar is how they ended their regular seasons. Both teams lost four of their last five games in the regular season, which really hurt both of the seeds these teams could have earned.
The Spartans and Bulldogs had two common opponents this season. Mississippi State played and beat both Northwestern and Rutgers this year, while Michigan State beat Rutgers the one time they played and split the season series with the Wildcats.
Can the Spartans march on into the second round? Anything short of that would be a huge disappointment, so hopefully Michigan State can win the battle of the MSU’s and extend their series history to 4-0 against the Bulldogs.
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