The Arizona Tip-Off holiday basketball tournament tips off Thursday and arguably the marquee matchup is a late game between No. 25 Mississippi State and a very good UNLV team in Cactus Division action.
The Bulldogs are solid favorites on the NCAAB odds for the neutral-site matchup.
| Opening NCAAB Lines Subject to Change: MSU -7.5 (total 146.5) Expert Prediction: Mississippi State 74, UNLV 67 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs NCAAB Line -385
No. 25 Mississippi State (5-0) hasn’t played since an impressive 84-79 win at SMU on Nov. 22. Cameron Matthews made a layup with 5:13 remaining to break a tie at 66. KeShawn Murphy made a 3-pointer and Kanye Clary made 1 of 2 free throws, and Mississippi State led for the remainder of the game.
The Offensive
Capitalizing on turnovers and bringing down offensive rebounds proved to be critical for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs scored 13 of their points off of Mustang turnovers, and MSU gathered 16 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second-chance points. Individually, State’s reserves accounted for the majority of MSU’s scoring to pave the way for victory.
Four different players came off the Bulldog bench to score at least 10 points with Murphy totaling a team-high 16, RJ Melendez tallying 15, Riley Kugel totaling 13 and Claudell Harris Jr. notching 10. All told, MSU’s bench put up 54 of the team’s 84 points. Josh Hubbard was the lone State starter to reach double figures with his 14 points.
Josh Hubbard
Hubbard has 699 points in his career, which is third in school history for freshmen and sophomores through 40 career games. He trails only Ray White (707 points) and Rich Knarr (700 points) from the 1970s. Hubbard is shooting an efficient 36-of-72 (50.0 percent) from the field and a healthy 20-of-40 clip (50.0 percent) on three-pointers.
Chris Jans
The Bulldogs improved to 18-1 during the month of November with Coach Chris Jans at the helm. State has dialed up wins in 28 of 32 games against non-SEC opponents during the Jans era. He now has registered 28 halftime comeback wins over his nine seasons as a Division I head coach with eight of those at MSU. Jans is the first coach in State history to start each of his first three seasons with a 5-0 record.
The Bulldogs vaulted their way into this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll at the No. 25 spot. At some point, State has been ranked inside the AP Top 25 in each of Jans’ first three seasons. The last time the Maroon and White achieved that feat was back in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05 under Rick Stansbury.
Ahead of the Arizona Tipoff in Tempe, the Dear Ol’ State guys caught up with @coachchrisjans to talk our 5-0 start and the journey ahead.
— Mississippi State Men's Basketball (@HailStateMBK) November 27, 2024
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The Top 5
State is ranked among the SEC’s top 5 in six categories: assist/turnover ratio (2.21 – 1st), steals per game (11.60 – 2nd), turnover margin (+7.80 – 2nd), assists per game (19.00 – 2nd), offensive rebounds (13.20 – 4th) and points per game (87.60 – 5th).
Mississippi State is seeking its third straight early season tournament championship, having won the 2022 Fort Myers Tip-Off and the 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Classic, the latter of which coming after defeating Northwestern for the championship.
^UNLV Rebels NCAAB Line +291
UNLV (4-1) last played on Nov. 23 and beat New Mexico State 72-65. It was 37-34 Rebels at the half, and to open the second half, UNLV struck first with a layup from Jalen Hill, but Robert Carpenter quickly answered with one of his own for NMSU. The Rebels then responded with a five-point burst, capped by a Julian Rishwain three-pointer from the left corner on a fast break, extending their lead to 42-36.
For much of the half, the Rebels maintained an eight-point advantage until two Carpenter free throws trimmed the margin to 56-55 with 8:02 remaining. The Aggies stayed within striking distance, cutting the deficit to 66-65 with 2:56 to play. However, NM State struggled to close the gap down the stretch, hitting just one of their final six shots.
Dedan Thomas Jr.
Thomas Jr. led all scorers with 22 points and Jalen Hill added 16. A total of four UNLV players scored in double figures as Julian Rishwain added 12 points and Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry added 10. Fifteen of Thomas Jr.’s points came in the first half and he scored a career-high 13 from the free-throw line. Hill led UNLV with nine rebounds and Cherry had eight rebounds with five blocks. Rishwain was 3 of 6 on 3-pointers. UNLV recorded just eight turnovers, which was a season low. – There were a total of 51 fouls called in the game. UNLV was 30 of 42 at the free-throw line and New Mexico State went 17 of 27.
Kevin Kruger
“It was really good for us to be in a tight game against a good team that plays incredibly hard and plays really well together. I’m happy to see things go our way as we continued to figure things out in the flow of the game. Our talking to each other and problem solving was great tonight. We had some really good plays late where we executed and got what we were looking for. Defensively, we made shots tough and rebounded it well,” UNLV head coach Kruger said.
Shots up in AZ 🌵 pic.twitter.com/oicn7ygUE7
— UNLV Men's Basketball (@TheRunninRebels) November 28, 2024
This season’s UNLV squad features six returners from last year’s team along with 10 newcomers. The newcomers are made up of four Division I transfers, a junior college transfer and five freshmen. UNLV has eight upperclassmen, including two sixth-year players. The Runnin’ Rebels returned two starters in sophomore guard Thomas Jr., who was the Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year last season and was named to this season’s preseason all-conference team, and senior forward Rob Whaley Jr.
Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry
Thomas Jr. leads the team in scoring with 17.8 ppg, while Cherry is second at 14.8 ppg. Cherry leads in rebounding (7.0 rpg), field-goal percentage with 80.6% (2nd in the country) and blocks (2.2 bpg, 27th in the country), Thomas Jr. is the team’s assist leader (3.8 apg) and Hill leads in steals (2.8 spg, 20th in the country). Thomas Jr.’s 41 made free throws ranks 12th in the nation. The Runnin’ Rebels are averaging 79.8 ppg.
UNLV is 22-30 all-time against teams that currently make up the SEC like Mississippi State.
^How to Bet Mississippi State vs. UNLV Odds NCAA Basketball
When: Thursday, 9:30 PM ET Where: Mullett Arena, Tempe, Arizona TV: CBS Sports Network Stream: Paramount+
^Mississippi State vs. UNLV Series History
The schools will meet for the third time on Thursday and the Runnin’ Rebels captured the two previous meetings in 1980-81 and in 2013-14, both played in Las Vegas.
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2019 Top Picks, February 4th
If Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is to reach an eighth career Final Four, it will be without one of his best players. Junior guard and team captain Joshua Langford has been ruled out the rest of the season – he was originally injured in late December. Langford was averaging 15.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists before the injury. Here’s a look at two intriguing NCAA basketball matchups this week. Check back for NCAAB odds.
Top NCAA Basketball Betting Picks of the Week – February 4th
No. 23 NC State at No. 9 North Carolina
- When: Tuesday, 8 PM ET (ACC Extra)
The Wolfpack probably fall out of the Top 25 on Monday because they have lost two straight and four of six. They were truly horrendous on Saturday in a 47-24 loss to Virginia Tech – no, that wasn’t the halftime score.
NC State’s 24 points were the fewest scored by a ranked team in more than three decades of the shot-clock era. It also flirted with the all-time low total — 20 points by St. Louis against George Washington in 2008 — since the shot clock began in the 1985-86 season. The ACC said it surpassed the previous low mark for a league team set by Georgia Tech in a 57-28 loss to Virginia in January 2015. And NC State’s 16.7-percent shooting (9 of 54) also now stands as the lowest percentage in the history of a league founded in 1953.
NC State shot just 13 percent in the second half and finished the game 9-of-54 shooting. No Pack player reached double figures as CJ Bryce led the team with seven points.
The Heels won their fifth straight Saturday, 79-69 at No. 15 Louisville. Luke Maye had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Cameron Johnson finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The victory came three weeks after UNC was beaten by 21 points by Louisville, its worst defeat at home under coach Roy Williams. Saturday’s victory was the first time the Tar Heels beat a team by 10 or more points on its home floor after losing to it by at least 20 at home.
UNC looks for the season sweep as it won at NC State on Jan. 8, 90-82. The Tar Heels scored the game’s first 12 points and never trailed. The Wolfpack twice managed to tie the game in the second half, yet kept coming up a shot or stop short. It was UNC’s sixth straight road win in the series. The Tar Heels went 6 for 6 at the line in the final 32.1 seconds to seal the win. Williams is now 29-4 against North Carolina State in 16 seasons as UNC coach, including 14-2 in Raleigh.
No. 19 LSU at No. 22 Mississippi State
- When: Wednesday, 9 PM ET (ESPN2)
LSU is a half-game out of first in the SEC at 7-1 in conference play. The LSU Tigers do come off that loss, though, 90-89 at home to Arkansas on Saturday. The Tigers’ loss snapped a 10-game winning streak overall and an 18-game home winning streak that is tied for the second longest in the Maravich Center’s 48 years as the home of LSU basketball.
Arkansas shot 58.3 percent for the game, 35-of-60 attempts and an impressive 13-of-24 from the arc (54.2%). LSU shot 26-of-59 overall, 44.1 percent, and just 5-of-24 from the arc (20.8%). The Tigers had a great game again at the line, making 32-of-38, for 80 percent. This is just the 46th time in 402 games since 1966-67 that LSU has lost when making more free throws than the opponent attempts.
The Tigers have scored 80 or more points 12 times this season and are 11-1 in the process (6-1 when scoring in the 80s and 5-0 when scoring in the 90s). LSU is 24-4 in the Will Wade era when scoring 80 or more and 10-0 in the Wade era when scoring 90 or more.
MSU is 4-4 in SEC play. The Bulldogs were 81-75 winners at rival Ole Miss on Saturday. Ole Miss led for a big portion of the second half before Mississippi State used a 9-0 run to take a 66-60 lead with eight minutes left. The Rebels pulled even at 73 on Breein Tyree’s 3-pointer but never could regain the lead.
In the process, the Bulldogs picked up their first win in Oxford since 2010-11 to end a seven-game skid and registered their fourth comeback victory this season. It marked Mississippi State’s first SEC road home halftime comeback going back to 2011-12 when the Bulldogs erased a 39-28 deficit to win 78-77 in overtime at Vanderbilt on Jan. 21, 2012. The four halftime comeback wins also are the most for the program in a single season dating back to 2010-11.
Quinndary Weatherspoon had 27 points. Mississippi State moved to 22-2 and has won 14 straight games over the last two seasons when Weatherspoon provides 20-plus points.
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