The Drake Bulldogs and the Mississippi State Bulldogs meet in college basketball action from the Pinnacle Bank Arena on Tuesday.
The Drake Bulldogs will look to rebound from back-to-back road losses after an 83-75 loss to Saint Louis last time out. Tucker DeVries leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 18.8 PPG along with 5.5 RPG while Roman Penn has 10.4 PPG with 4.2 RPG and a team-high 3.8 APG to lead the Bulldogs in assists as the only other double-digit scorer for Drake up to this point in the year. Darnell Brodie also has a team-high 7.3 RPG as well for the Bulldogs this season. As a team, Drake is averaging 73 PPG on 45.6% shooting from the field, 32.6% from three and 77% from the foul line this season.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs will hope to remain unbeaten at 11-0 after a 68-66 win over Nicholls State last time out. Tolu Smith leads the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding with 16.2 PPG and 8.9 RPG while D.J. Jeffries has 10.2 PPG with 5.4 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Mississippi State up to this point in the year. Cameron Matthews has 7 PPG with.4.8 RPG while also leading Mississippi State in assists with 2.6 APG. As a team, Mississippi State is averaging 69.7 PPG on 43% shooting from the field, 30% from three and 67.8% from the foul line this season.
Drake is 6-20-2 ATS in their last 28 games following an ATS loss and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games overall while the under is 5-2 in their last 7 Tuesday games. Mississippi State is 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 Tuesday games while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600.
I get the case to be made for either side here, but I’m on the under in this one. Mississippi State’s played 5 games on a neutral floor or in a true road environment this season and has scored just 64.2 PPG and logged more than 70 points just one time, while Drake’s only comparable matchup defensively was against Richmond and the Bulldogs scored just 52 points in that game. I look for this to be a knock down, drag out kind of game so give me the under here.