BOWLIN'S GAMEDAY BREAKDOWN: Mississippi State

By: Dallas Bowlin, Senior Staff Writer, Junior Editor

Photo | Tennessee Basketball on Twitter

(7)Tennessee (11-2,1-0) welcomes (21)Mississippi State (11-2,0-1) into Knoxville for a conference matchup. After falling at home to Alabama, the Bulldogs will look to get their first conference win of the season - while the Vols’ will look for their second conference win following their victory at Ole Miss.

Can Tennessee move to 2-0 in the SEC, and remain undefeated at Thompson-Boling arena? Take a look at the numbers:

OFFENSE:

Scoring offense-

Tennessee: 149th nationally, 73.8 points per game.

Mississippi State: 278th nationally, 68.2 points per game.

Field goal percentage-

Mississippi State: 280th nationally, 42.2%.

Tennessee: 291st nationally, 41.8%.

Three-point percentage-

Tennessee: 255th nationally, 32.3%.

Mississippi State: 299th nationally, 31.1%.

Assists per game-

Tennessee: 24th nationally, 17.1 per game.

Mississippi State: 74th nationally, 15.5 per game.

DEFENSE:

Scoring defense-

Tennessee: 4th nationally, 53.2 opponent points per game.

Mississippi State: 6th nationally, 54.5 opponent points per game.

Field goal percentage defense-

Tennessee: 2nd nationally, 33.2% opponent field goal percentage.

Mississippi State: 10th nationally, 36.6% opponent field goal percentage.

Three-point percentage defense-

Tennessee: 1st nationally, 21.2% opponent three-point percentage.

Mississippi State: 45th nationally, 29.4 opponent three-point percentage.

Steals per game-

Tennessee- 7th nationally, 10.7 steals per game.

Mississippi State- 13th nationally, 10.1 steals per game.

Strength of schedule:

Tennessee- 3rd toughest schedule in the country.

Mississippi State- 77th toughest schedule in the country.

Simulated outcome-

*simulation courtesy of ncaagamesim.com