Here we go tonight with a big time game for both schools it's the east vs. the west leading SEC teams. Miss State is under rated here and I feel confident they can pull out the upset. They are 5-0 @ home against SEC teams this year and this being a home game on ESPN I expect a crazy atmosphere one similar to what Kentucky faced when they visited South Carolina in their loss. Miss State is #1 in the SEC in scoring defense FG% defense and blocked shots. Similar to what Uconn is out of the Big East and Kentucky had a lot of problems on a neutral court against Uconn in a 3 point win.
Look for Cousins to really struggle offensively as Jarvis Varnado will give him issues all night long. Miss State is better than South Carolina and although you could say that Kentucky got its upset win out of the way I still don't believe they are as good as marketed. Miss State has the same offensive production as South Carolina, but they average more rebounds per game assists per game, less personal fould, higher FG%, FT% and 3P% and they lead the SEC in three point FGs made per game.
Kentucky is coming off a nice win at Tennessee and they are going to be coming into this game very relaxed because of their record while Miss State really wants to prove something here tonight. I think they will come up with a huge effort at home in what will amount to a very physical close scoring game. I really like Miss States defense to be the difference here and if they can knock some threes down early they could win this game out right.
