Preview: Thursday night Mississippi State basketball games

Mississippi State’s men and women basketball teams face tough challenges Thursday night.

The men’s team will face Kansas State in a neutral site game in Kansas City, while the women’s team is traveling to west Texas to face Texas Tech.

This will be the women team’s first game against a team from a Power 4 conference, while the men are playing their second such opponent.

A little more than a week ago, the Bulldogs traveled to South Dakota to face No. 16 Iowa State in a neutral site game and lost 96-80. And despite Thursday’s game against Wildcats being played at a neutral site, it’s much closer to Lawrence, Kansas than it is Starkville.

“It will be bigger,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. “That was an intimate environment at The Pentagon and a really cool, really neat place to play and it was very small and intimate. But this will be like an NBA arena and large. People won’t be as quite on top of you but there will be a lot more people in the gym.

“Like you mentioned, there will definitely be more purple than maroon and close to their campus.”

Kansas State received one vote in the most recent AP Top 25 poll and is coming off a close, one-point win against Tulsa.

“Up until (Tuesday) night’s game they were No. 1 in the country in 3 point shooting,” Jans said on Wednesday. “It literally felt like every time they shot the 3 it went in no matter who it was on their team. They slowed down a little bit last night in a win. But they are very offensive-minded in terms of scoring the ball. They scored 80-something last night and had scored in the high 90s in every single game that they played thus far.”

For the women’s team, this will be their first road trip of the season, which will be a great test for a team with just two returning players.

“It is always going to be new whenever you don't have fans cheering for you. What I think is going to be interesting is how we handle getting our shots blocked. We have been blocking a lot of shots, but Texas Tech is 12th in the country in blocked shots. So I am just curious how we will respond to the chaos because they want to make the game ugly.”

Here’s how you can watch the Bulldogs road games Thursday night:

How to Watch: Mississippi State vs. Kansas State

• Who: Mississippi State Bulldogs (2-1) vs. Kansas State Wildcats (4-0)
• When: 8:30 p.m., Thursday
• Where: T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Mo.
• TV: Peacock
• Radio: Live Radio
• Stats: Live Stats
• Series History: Kansas State leads the all-time series 3-1
• Last Meeting: Mississippi State 67, Kansas State 61 (December 14, 2019)
• Last time out, Bulldogs: def. Southeastern Louisiana, 75-68
• Last time out, Wildcats: def. Tulsa, 84-83

How to Watch: Mississippi State at Texas Tech

• Who: Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-0) at Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-0)
• When: 6 p.m., Thursday
• Where: United Supermarkets Arena, Lubbock, Texas
• TV: ESPN+
• Radio: Live Radio
• Stats: Live Stats
• Series History: Texas Tech leads the all-time series 1-0
• Last Meeting: Texas Tech 77, Mississippi State 55 (March 17, 2002)
• Last time out, Bulldogs: def. Jackson State, 82-55
• Last time out, Tigers: def. Arkansas, 80-68