Basketball Preview: Tennessee and Mississippi State

opponent-preview_basketball
opponent-preview_basketball

Every week, we’ll be looking at Auburn basketball’s upcoming opponents. This week, the Tigers travel to Knoxville to face off with the Tennessee Volunteers and host the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Tennessee

The Volunteers are coached by are coached by Rick Barnes, who is on his 7th season in Knoxville, where he has been very successful. Barnes was the 2019 Naismith College Coach of the Year after guiding Tennessee to a school-record-tying 31 wins and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2018-19. The Vols also authored a program-record 19-game win streak, logged three wins over top-five opponents and spent a month ranked atop both major top-25 polls.

This season, Tennessee has continued that success. They’re 20-7 on the season, with an 11-4 conference record. They hold very impressive wins throughout the schedule, including Villanova, Arizona, and a recent blowout over Kentucky.

Players to watch for: #1, guard Kennedy Chandler, and #25, guard Santiago Vescovi. 

Chandler and Vescovi are two very impressive players with the same points per game average of 13.6. The two also lead the Vols in assists per game with 3.5 and 3.1 respectively. They are excellent shooters as well, with Chandler shooting 33% and Vescovi hitting almost 40%.

Auburn travels to Tennessee Saturday, February 26th.

Mississippi State

The Bulldogs are coached by Ben Howland, who is in his 7th season in Starkville. He is currently operating a program that has hovered around the .500 mark for most of its history, which is why what he’s done in so impressive. Mississippi State has piled up 86 victories since the start of 2017-18, which is tied for fourth-most among SEC schools over the last four seasons. The Bulldogs also have earned three straight bids to postseason play when postseason tournaments have been played for the first time in nearly a decade, highlighted by a 2019 NCAA Tournament trip and a 2021 NIT Runner-Up finish under Howland’s direction.

This year, the Bulldogs have fallen back to Earth some, hoping a 16-11 record, going 7-7 in the conference. They have a few impressive wins, but have also lost seven of their last 11 games.

Players to watch for: #1, guard Iverson Molinar, and #10, forward Brooks Garrison 

Molinar is the leading scorer for State, and by a good bit, averaging 18.3 points per game. He is also their best passer, averaging 3.8 assists per contest. Garrison is also a solid contributor, averaging 11.3 points per game. He gets a lot of his points from three-point range, shooting 35.6%. He leads the Bulldogs in rebounds as well, grabbing 6.9 per game. They are the only two players for State averaging greater than 30 minutes per game.

Auburn hosts Mississippi State Wednesday, March 2nd.

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