STARKVILLE – The Mississippi State men’s basketball team will meet Utah State for a neutral site match-up on Monday, December 21 in Panama City Beach, Florida announced Wednesday.
The Bulldogs have won two of the previous three meetings with Utah State most recently splitting a home-and-home series during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. Game time and television network will be determined at a later date.
The Aggies have posted a 54-15 record during the last two seasons under Craig Smith and were scheduled to make their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance after defeating No. 5 San Diego State en route to the 2020 Mountain West Tournament. Utah State is slated to return two of its top three starters in Neemias Queta (13.0 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 1.7 BPG) and Justin Bean (11.9 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 1.5 SPG).
The 2019-20 non-conference schedule already includes the Cancun Challenge on November 24-25, where Mississippi State will be joined by Clemson, Illinois State and Purdue. The Bulldogs also are slated to meet Dayton on December 12 in Atlanta, travel to Minnesota on December 16 and play host a SEC/Big 12 Challenge matchup on January 23 at Humphrey Coliseum.
Mississippi State won 11 of its last 15 SEC games to earn a top 4 finish in the conference standings, the program’s highest overall regular season finish since 2010-11. The Bulldogs have tucked away three consecutive 20-plus win seasons under sixth-year coach Ben Howland, and the first time dating back to the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. The 68 victories are the fourth-highest total in program history for a three-year span.
