Both Memphis and Mississippi State will aim to get their seasons pointed in the right direction when squaring off on Saturday in Starkville, Miss.
The Bulldogs (6-5) have won two straight games. On Tuesday they squeaked out an 87-83 home win over Long Island.
Leading scorer Josh Hubbard (21.6 points per game) racked up a game-high 34 points and Jayden Epps (16.7 ppg) poured in 20 points. Mississippi State also got 12 points from reserve Sergej Macura, but it took an 11-4 game-closing run to pull away from the Sharks.
It was the play of Macura, a forward from Slovenia who set a season high in points and minutes played against Long Island, that stood out to Mississippi State coach Chris Jans.
“We’ve struggled at times as to who should be in the rotation at some of those spots,” Jans said. “He plays a spot we struggle with at times and it’s not as solid as we’d like. He made a strong case that he needs to be, for the short term at the minimum, a guy that is playing more minutes than maybe he has.”
Meanwhile, the Tigers (4-6) lost a home game 77-70 in overtime to No. 13 Vanderbilt on Wednesday.
Leading scorer Dug McDaniel (14.5 ppg) and Sincere Parker (10.2) each scored 18 points as Memphis was able to scrap its way back into the game and force overtime. Hasan Abdul Hakim had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Tariq Ingraham offered 11 points off the bench.
For Memphis coach Penny Hardaway, the losses have come as a surprise as a new roster continues to try to jell.
“Maybe these are just hard lessons that I haven’t had to go through in a very, very long time,” Hardaway said. “I haven’t been through these lessons since my first year. We haven’t lost these kinds of games in a long, long time. It seems like every one of these really good games, we just don’t know how to win as a team.”
