Mississippi State Men’s Basketball Falls to No. 21 in AP Poll

The Bulldogs dropped six spots after suffering their first loss of the season at Drake last week.

Mississippi State men’s basketball fell to No. 21 in the AP Top 25 Poll on Monday.

The Bulldogs (11-1) had the second-biggest fall in the rankings, dropping six spots from last week’s 15th-overall standing. They entered the poll at No. 23 on Dec. 5 and have risen over the past few weeks.

MSU almost made it through the entire non-conference slate of games without being defeated, but Drake handed the Bulldogs a 58-52 loss on Dec. 20 to crush those hopes. Eric Reed Jr. was the only player to score in double figures for Mississippi State, totaling 11 points on the afternoon. Tolu Smith had nine points and six rebounds, while Dashawn Davis and KeShawn Murphy also recorded nine points each.

Five additional SEC teams also found themselves in the AP Top 25 this week. Tennessee leads the way at No. 7, while Alabama and Arkansas are in eighth place and ninth place, respectively. Kentucky sits at No. 19 and Auburn at No. 20 to round out the conference representation. Missouri received 57 votes but is still a few spots away from making it into the poll. 

Mississippi State has a tough slate of games to start SEC play this year. The Bulldogs open up against No. 8 Alabama on Wednesday before traveling to No. 7 Tennessee on Jan. 3 to start 2023 with a bang. Overall, the team will play against ranked opponents in five out of nine games during January. 

Tipoff for MSU's matchup against Alabama is set for 8 p.m. CT at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville.