With Saint Louis University on continued COVID-19 hiatus, we take a look at Missouri @ Mississipi St.

Mizzou hits the road to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs tonight 1/5, with both teams 1-1 in the SEC, each having opened up conference play with a Home loss and a Road win. With Mizzou #40 and MSU #75 in the KenPom ratings, this game is just about dead even by the math.

Like the last two Mizzou opponents Tennessee and Arkansas, Mississippi St is very good on the offensive boards (#8). The Tigers held their own with the Vols but were absolutely creamed by the Hogs on their offensive glass. So maybe that doesn’t matter. Shrug emoji.

The Bulldogs are young and tall (#299 in Experience and #6 in Average Height) and went 2-OT earlier this week with similarly configured Kentucky (#339 in Experience, # 5 Average Height).

The Bulldogs feature three high-volume three-point shooters in sophomore D.J. Stewart Jr. (44% from three), sophomore Iverson Molinar (50%) off the bench, and redshirt senior Jalen Johnson (40%). Readers of this space will remember Johnson from his two years with Saint Louis University. He sat out a transfer year before running with Louisiana Lafayette last year. The Baton Rouge native was more of a mid-range guy with SLU, then handled the ball a lot last year for the Rajun Cajuns (to not-so-great effect); he has broken into the MSU starting lineup of late as a 3-and-D specialist.

Mizzou continues to rely heavily on the driving and foulability of Xavier Pinson, as well as Tilmon and Mitchell Smith’s abilities to battle down low. The Tigers are rated very highly in both the NET and the human polls, though KenPom is not as impressed. Sam Snelling of Rock M Nation pointed out that pre-season expectations and last year’s results are dragging down Mizzou to this point. His reasoning is sound. This feels like the kind of game a cohesive veteran team wins. Don’t help off the shooters and secure the defensive boards, Pinson makes ten free throws and it’s a happy flight home.