Florida vs. Mississippi State: Preview, Info, Where to Watch and More

Photo: Todd Golden: Credit: Zach Goodall

Southeastern Conference tournament play has commenced, and the Gators are set to open the second-round slate of contests on Thursday afternoon.

Entering into the field as the eight-seed, Florida draws ninth-seeded Mississippi State with hopes of taking down the Bulldogs for the second time this season. Doing so would propel Todd Golden's unit into the third round for a date with the top-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide.

You can find everything you need to know about the matchup below.

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Florida Gators vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs

Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.

When: Thursday, March 9 at 1 p.m. EST

Watch: SECN

Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD

Odds: Florida is a 4.5-point underdog to Mississippi State, according to the Sports Illustrated Sportsbook. The over/under is set at 130.5 points.

Series history: The Gators are 67-52 all-time against the Bulldogs, including a 2-2 record in the SEC Tournament. In the last meeting between the two programs, Florida edged out Mississippi State, 61-59, on the road.

Important stories

The rundown

It’s March, and with the season comes added anticipation for the most exciting season in sports: the NCAA Tournament.

For Florida, reaching that stage will only be done by producing an improbable, but previously accomplished, run to an automatic qualifying bid.

That comes by winning the SEC Tournament. The Gators are focused on attempting to realize that feat heading into Thursday.

“That's the great thing about going to the tournament is everybody has equal opportunity to go on a run and get there,” Golden said on Tuesday. “You know, it's been done before, so the opportunity’s there. It's kind of a fresh start for everybody going into this one-week mini-season where if you win a couple of games, you can get yourself a bid to the tournament.”

However, if they lose, they'll wake up from the dream of accomplishing their preseason goal to return to the Big Dance after missing out last season.

Despite being a lower seed, due to league record, the Bulldogs can do more with less in terms of wins. Chris Jans’ squad is currently vying to earn a March Madness bid as an at-large at 20-11 on the season.

They sit on the bubble, creating the scenario that makes the contest against Florida — a team they lost to earlier in the season — a must-win.

However, the Gators have proved to be no easy task for teams looking to secure easy wins to bolster their late-season resume.

They’re on a two-game winning streak, orchestrated largely by Riley Kugel and Will Richard’s scoring excellence in the absence of their star Colin Castleton, and recently took a red-hot Kentucky team to the wire in Gainesville.

Despite holding a stagnant offensive attack for a large portion of the season, the team’s scoring output has improved significantly in recent contests to cause headaches for opponents. A reworked offensive scheme that mixes a heavy dose dribble drive to the basket with spot-up shooters waiting along on the outside, Florida’s rose to the occasion to shoot at a higher clip of late.

If the Gators can maintain scoring production, albeit against a tougher defensive opponent than in the past two games, they’ll be in a great spot for Golden to earn yet another win against a fellow first-year head coach in the SEC.

He’s undefeated in such games this year.

The threat to Florida’s advancement to the third round of the conference tournament appears at the five spot, as Mississippi State big man Tolu Smith stands in the way.

Without Castleton anchoring the middle defensive, the Gators have lapsed from their previous top-ten form in the last meeting between the two foes. Now, there is no singular player Golden can deploy to consistently deter Smith from dominating on the interior.

Instead, the unit will look to throw a variety of matchups his way, creating confusion the same way they attempted to do with KJ Williams if LSU in the regular-season finale. The method includes frequent switches and sometimes smaller players working against him in the post by design.

Against Williams, that piece was Richard. He will likely shoulder that defensive responsibility once again on Thursday.

“We’re going to have to do similar to what we did with KJ on Saturday: show him different bodies, some double teams, be very mindful about preventing him from getting deep catches,” Golden shared on Tuesday. “He’s just a monster on the glass and a really, really good, physical athlete.

“We’re going to have to run different people at him for sure and do the best we can to limit him. But he's a very good player and one that's probably the main reason why Mississippi State's in the position they're in to play in the [NCAA] Tournament, especially if they can find a way to beat us on Thursday.”

It’s win-or-go-home time in college basketball. This is just the beginning of the madness.

It’s March.

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