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Mississippi State's SEC tournament seed, opponent set for Nashville

3rupauk8_400x400by:Robbie Faulk•about 21 hours•

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Arkansas vs. Mississippi State
© Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

A disappointing end of the season has seen Mississippi State tumble down the SEC standings in recent weeks.

After the Bulldogs once had aspirations of getting at least a first-round bye in next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, State is now set for a double-digit seed. The Bulldogs grabbed the No. 10 seed as they got involved in a four-team tiebreaker with Arkansas, Georgia and Vanderbilt.

The Razorbacks secured the No. 9 seed that the Bulldogs were playing for as Arkansas was able to knock off the Bulldogs 93-92 in a heartbreaking finish. The Bulldogs were trailing by 16 points in the second half before making a furious comeback and ultimately taking the lead late in the game. Arkansas made a free throw in the final 10 seconds and Riley Kugel and RJ Melendez couldn’t cash in on the other end.

Bulldogs struggling heading into the SECT

State is limping into the postseason having lost four of the last five games. After beating two top 20 teams in Ole Miss and Texas A&M, the Bulldogs had losses on the road to Oklahoma and Alabama. State was able to knockoff LSU last Saturday but had an overtime defeat to Texas and finished the year losing to Arkansas.

The first round of the tournament will take place at 6 p.m. in Nashville next Wednesday as the Bulldogs fight it out with No. 15 seed LSU again. State (20-11) won the meeting last week 81-69 but started that ball game slow and trailed by two points at the half.

The Bulldogs have continued their struggles defensively. Saturday was the first time that State hasn’t lost a game to a team that didn’t make double digit three-pointers, but the Hogs shot 55% from the field and outrebounded State 41-29 with 14 second chance points.

It ruined what was a strong offensive day for MSU. State shot 44% from the field and had 12 three-pointers with 19 points off of 10 Arkansas turnovers. State also had one of its best games of the Jans era in terms of giveaways with just two turnovers.

The Bulldogs are looking to get on a roll heading into the NCAA Tournament and have had some success in Nashville since Jans’ arrival. State is 3-2 in the tournament in the last two years and had a trip to the semifinals last season.

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