Vanderbilt Looking to win two in a row as they face Mississippi State

Fresh off their upset of #18 LSU, the Vanderbilt Commodores invade Humphrey Coliseum looking for their second conference win of the season as the face Mississippi State.

The Vanderbilt Commodores visit Starkville tonight to take on Mississippi State in an SEC contest that suddenly means more for both teams.

The Bulldogs (14-8, 5-4) are coming off a tough 80-72 road loss at Kentucky and are one-game behind Florida and two back of Kentucky, Auburn and LSU as they battle for seeding in the coming SEC tournament.     

With their upset of LSU, suddenly Vanderbilt finds themselves just one game back of Georgia, Ole Miss and Missouri in the conference standings and have a chance to climb out of the basement and improve their seeding in the tournament, but every single game now becomes important if they are to move up in the standings.  

State enters the contest averaging 73.5 ppg while allowing 66.2 per outing. They are a team capable of playing outstanding basketball, but at times they have suffered lapses in games that have cost them. 

Forward Reggie Perry and guard Tyson Carter power the Bulldogs as Perry averages a double-double for the season, netting 17.1 ppg and grabbing 10 rebounds per contest. Carter averages 13.2 ppg and leads the team in assists at 3.3 per game. 

Robert Woodard II (12.0) and Nick Weatherspoon (11.9) also average double figures for Ben Howland's squad. 

The Bulldogs are also a deep squad, sporting eight players who average in double-figure minutes per game, six of those average twenty-plus minutes per game. 

The Commodores have struggled against big, physical inside players this season, and Perry, at 6'10" 250-pounds is certainly that. Abdul Ado at 6'11" 255-pounds serves as the backup and averages just 5.6 ppg, but collects 7.0 rebounds per contest, giving State a nice combination in the middle.  

While Perry is scoring option number one and Carter number two, three of their top four scorers are guards, meaning that the COmmodores can match up with them more evenly than a team with three larger players.   

Perry will get his points, the Commodores don't have a player capable of stopping him, but if by committee they can at least keep him at his average, and then stop the others around him, they could find a way to victory.  

Head coach Jerry Stackhouse, who has been credited by John Calipari and Will Wade of late for his changing gameplans and looks he presents with the Commodores will, without doubt, have some new looks for State in this one.