The first Saturday in January brought the Southeastern Conference opener to the Hump as the Mississippi State Bulldogs welcomed South Carolina to Starkville for the first of eighteen Southeastern Conference games. Mississippi State came into the matchup with South Carolina looking to send a message with a dominating performance over the unranked Gamecocks. Coming into Southeastern Conference play, Mississippi State found themselves ranked 17th and looking to prove they belonged higher in the polls and in the conversation for a team that has the potential to reach the Final Four.

Mississippi State opened the game with a significant lead over the Gamecocks, taking a 43- 18 lead over the visitors from Columbia at the break. Claudell Harris and Josh Hubbard led the Bulldogs in scoring nine points each in the first half. At the break, Mississippi State held a 21-18 rebound advantage over South Carolina.

With a significant lead, all Mississippi State needed to do in the second half was continue to do what they did in the first half and replicate that in the second half—resulting in an easy but big win over South Carolina, which opened the SEC slate 1-0.

As the second half progressed, Mississippi State’s lead over South Carolina increased; at the under-16 media timeout, the Bulldogs extended their lead to 54-27 over the Gamecocks. At the under-12 media timeout, Mississippi State extended the lead to 60-32 over South Carolina. As the under-8 media timeout rolled around, the Bulldogs extended the lead to 73-38 with 7:45 remaining on the clock. The game’s final media timeout saw the lead extend to 79-45 in favor of the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Josh Hubbard led the way in scoring with 21 points for the Bulldogs.

What Mississippi State did with the blowout win of South Carolina on Saturday was send a message to the rest of the Southeastern Conference and the country that Mississippi State Basketball is in the category of not only competing for the SEC Crown but should be considered as a Final Four contender as the season progresses. Sure, there’ll be losses this season that shouldn’t happen; that’s life in the SEC, but what Mississippi State has to work with this season is unlike anything the program has seen in almost thirty years. Coach Jans has a deep roster that purely plays basketball; there’s just something special about the 2024-2025 Mississippi State Basketball team that’s hard to deny.

Mississippi State will return to action on Tuesday night with a late-night road game at Vanderbilt before returning to the Hump on Saturday night to welcome Coach Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats to the Hump for another highly anticipated Southeastern Conference slugfest.

Photo Credits- Mississippi State Basketball on X