South Carolina vs Mississippi State: 2022 SEC Tournament game preview, TV schedule

2022 SEC Tournament Game Preview: South Carolina vs Mississippi State

When: Thursday, March 10 at 6:00 pm ET on SEC Network

Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL

To begin the night-cap of the second round of the 2022 SEC Tournament, South Carolina takes on Mississippi State in a matchup of two teams trying to get into NCAA Tournament contention.

A team that quietly had a strong finish to the regular season was South Carolina, with the Gamecocks winning five of their last seven games. While those two losses did come on the road to Alabama and most-recently Auburn, the Gamecocks did however pickup home wins over LSU, as well as their opponent on Thursday, Mississippi State.

Finishing the SEC regular season with a 9-9 record in conference play, the Gamecocks enter the 2022 SEC Tournament as the No. 7 seed, and own an 18-12 record for the 2021-22 season overall. Averaging 71.6 PPG offensively while allowing 70.2 PPG to opponents, the Gamecocks have an experienced roster under head coach Frank Martin, as well as a few impact freshmen and transfers.

Among those options, Jermaine Cousinard and Keyshawn Bryant are known names with the Gamecocks, while wing transfers Erik Stevenson and James Reese V are two impactful scorers averaging 10+ PPG. Freshman guard Devin Carter and Jacobi Wright join the group primarily in the backcourt, while Wildens Leveque also sees a significant amount of minutes in the frontcourt.

Mississippi State on the other hand enters the 2022 SEC Tournament sitting a game behind South Carolina in the standings, but did drop three of their last four games of the regular season. Included in that most-recent stretch was a 67-64 loss at Texas A&M, as well as a 10-point road loss at South Carolina.

The No. 10 seed this week in Tampa, the Bulldogs finished the regular season with an 8-10 record in conference play, as well as 17-14 overall. Mississippi State stacks up similar offensively with the Gamecocks at 71.2 PPG on an impressive 45.7% combined shooting from the field, but you could certainly argue that the Bulldogs are a bit stronger defensively, allowing only 66.7 PPG.

One of the more-dangerous teams matchup-wise in the SEC this week, Mississippi State is led by First Team All-SEC guard Iverson Molinar, as well as having two strong interior presences in Garrison Brooks and Tolu Smith. Shakeel Moore, Andersson Garcia, and Cameron Matthews will also play key roles in the backcourt, while DJ Jeffries and Javian Davis are key names to watch for in the frontcourt.

As mentioned previously, both South Carolina and Mississippi State have played each other twice this season, with both teams winning at home. Now on a neutral court for the third matchup, what will happen?

While South Carolina is the higher seed, the Bulldogs could have a few matchup advantages against the Gamecocks, as well as the best player on the court in Molinar. Because of this, Mississippi State is the likeliest team to pull the upset in the second round.

Prediction: South Carolina 66, Mississippi State 75