Mississippi State vs South Carolina Prediction Basketball Picks 3-9-24
South Carolina Gamecocks (24-6) vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs (19-11)
March 9, 2024 2:30 pm EDT
The Line: Mississippi State Bulldogs -3; Over/Under: -
(Get latest betting odds)
The South Carolina Gamecocks and the Mississippi State Bulldogs meet Saturday in college basketball action from Humphrey Coliseum. Let’s get into our South Carolina vs. Mississippi State prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
South Carolina Gamecocks
The Gamecocks got through their first 24 games of the year without losing consecutive games. That occurred in mid-February against Auburn and LSU, but South Carolina bounced back with wins over Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Florida in the next trio before another loss to Tennessee.
Matched up against the Vols on Wednesday, the Gamecocks came out of halftime with a 35-24 deficit. South Carolina got better from there on a 35-31 run but eventually took a tough loss 66-59. Leading team scorer Meechie Johnson put up 18 points with five boards in the defeat.
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Over on the Bulldogs’ side, they kicked off the season with a 14-8 run. Mississippi State would then take out Georgia, Missouri, Arkansas, Ole Miss and LSU in the next five. Since then the Bulldogs have lost their last three straight versus Kentucky, Auburn and Texas A&M.
In the Texas A&M game on Wednesday, the Bulldogs were trailing 45-32 by halftime. Mississippi State hit a 37-30 advantage the rest of the way but couldn’t come back in a 75-69 loss. Tops in the losing effort was Josh Hubbard with his 24 points and three assists.
ANDREW’S FREE SOUTH CAROLINA VS MISSISSIPPI STATE PREDICTION
I’m going with South Carolina. The Gamecocks saw their regular-season title hopes shattered by Tennessee in their last outing. South Carolina didn’t shoot very well at just 38.3 percent, but it was still better than the Vols’ 35.7 percent. Tennessee’s trump card was a nice 19-of-22 from the line. The 59 points was South Carolina’s lowest since January 9 (47 versus Alabama).
The Gamecocks managed a 66-62 victory the last time these teams met up back on January 6 at Colonial Life Arena. South Carolina didn’t shoot especially well in that one either (40.4 percent) and coughed up 14 turnovers. It’s going to take a much cleaner effort in order to pull off the road cover this time, but I think the Gamecocks bounce back here.
