No. 16 Mississippi State has found its way to the Sunshine State for an early afternoon meeting with SEC rival and fellow ranked squad Florida. Today’s clash between the Bulldogs and the 13th ranked Gators is scheduled for a 1:30pm ET start at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville; the game can be seen live on ESPN3. The latest NCAA Basketball Point Spreads have Florida listed as a -9.5 against the spread favorite and the game total set at 146 points.
Mississippi State suffered just two losses in non-conference play, despite playing a number of high-profile programs, but conference play has posed more challenges for the team. The Bulldogs have been up to the task for the most part, knocking off Tennessee, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and LSU, but they have slipped up on two occasions (Arkansas, Mississippi), leaving them fourth in the SEC standings behind Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and today’s opponent, Florida.
Today will mark Mississippi State’s fourth conference road excursion and it is hopeful its performance this afternoon more closely resembles the latest away outing rather than its first two. The Bulldogs fell to the Razorbacks and Rebels outside of Starkville, but they managed to find a win in Nashville last Saturday, dumping the Commodores 78-77 in overtime.
Dee Bost and Arnett Moultrie starred in the win, combining for 45 points and 19 rebounds, but the Bulldogs also got a tremendous effort off the bench from sophomore Jalen Steele. Steele hit five of his eight shots, all of which came from beyond the arc, for 15 points.
Mississippi State will need a similar effort out of those three today if it hopes to down the Gators in Gainesville. Florida, which is 12-0 at home this season, ran its record to 16-4 on Monday night with a 64-60 road win against Mississippi.
The victory marked the Gators fourth consecutive conference win and their second league triumph outside the State of Florida. The team’s two league home games were both blowouts with Kenny Boynton and company routing Georgia 70-48 and LSU 76-64. Today might be a different story, though. Not only are the Bulldogs better those two teams, they have won four of their last five meetings with the Gators and split the last two get togethers in Gainesville.
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Mississippi State vs Florida 2012 NCAAB Picks: Provided by SBG Global
Mississippi State Bulldogs +9.5 (-110), Over 146 (-110), +400 (Moneyline)
Florida Gators -9.5 (-110), Under 146 (-110), -500 (Moneyline)
