Kugel leads No. 15 Mississippi State against No. 6 Tennessee after 21-point outing

Published Jan. 20, 2025 3:43 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Mississippi State Bulldogs (15-3, 3-2 SEC) at Tennessee Volunteers (16-2, 3-2 SEC)

Knoxville, Tennessee; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 15 Mississippi State takes on No. 6 Tennessee after Riley Kugel scored 21 points in Mississippi State's 84-81 overtime victory against the Ole Miss Rebels.

The Volunteers have gone 10-0 at home. Tennessee is 13-2 against opponents with a winning record.

The Bulldogs have gone 3-2 against SEC opponents. Mississippi State scores 82.9 points while outscoring opponents by 12.8 points per game.

Tennessee makes 46.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.4 percentage points higher than Mississippi State has allowed to its opponents (42.7%). Mississippi State has shot at a 46.6% clip from the field this season, 10.2 percentage points greater than the 36.4% shooting opponents of Tennessee have averaged.

The matchup Tuesday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Zakai Zeigler is averaging 12.3 points, 7.7 assists and 1.9 steals for the Volunteers.

KeShawn Murphy is averaging 10.3 points and 7.7 rebounds for the Bulldogs.

LAST 10 GAMES: Volunteers: 8-2, averaging 71.6 points, 35.2 rebounds, 14.9 assists, 7.6 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 41.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 60.5 points per game.

Bulldogs: 8-2, averaging 80.7 points, 37.6 rebounds, 15.2 assists, 9.2 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.3 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.