Mississippi State remained in the top 15 despite a home loss and Ole Miss climbed two spots in the latest rankings from the Associated Press after an action-packed week of college basketball.
The Bulldogs (14-2, 2-1 SEC) dropped to No. 15, a one-spot falloff from last week, following Saturday’s 95-90 defeat to then-No. 6 Kentucky in Humphrey Coliseum. In a must-watch contest that featured seven ties and 13 lead changes, Mississippi State was ultimately unable to snap a 16-year curse of losing to Kentucky at home.
Prior to the weekend matchup, Chris Jans’ group had a dominant outing at Vanderbilt, ousting the Commodores 76-64. Georgia transfer RJ Melendez led that effort with 19 points and seven rebounds. Cam Matthews, who had 19 points versus Kentucky, put 16 on the scoreboard in Nashville.
Next up for the Bulldogs is a Tuesday night battle at No. 1 Auburn, beginning at 6 p.m. CT. The Tigers will be without star big man Johni Broome, who suffered an ankle sprain on Saturday at South Carolina. Mississippi State will then return to Starkville to host bitter foe Ole Miss on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT.
Speaking of Ole Miss (14-2, 3-0 SEC), the Rebels rose to No. 21 in the rankings after earning its first conference road win of the year and taking care of business at home. Chris Beard’s Rebels walked into Bud Walton Arena Wednesday night with a chip on their shoulder and defeated Arkansas in the Fayetteville facility for the first time in 10 years.
Malik Dia led Ole Miss in the 73-66 win with a season-best 21 points and eight rebounds. The Belmont transfer carried that success over into Saturday afternoon’s home matchup against LSU. The Rebels won 77-65, with Dia’s 19 points and seven rebounds underscoring the outing.
A gauntlet lies ahead for the red and blue. First on deck is a Tuesday night game at Alabama, with tipoff set for 6 p.m. CT. Next is Saturday’s matchup in Starkville against a tough Bulldog club.
As always, Ole Miss and Mississippi State basketball games are broadcast on participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations along with various television providers. The full AP Top 25, which features nine SEC teams, can be found below:
- Auburn
- Iowa State
- Duke
- Alabama
- Florida
- Tennessee
- Marquette
- Kentucky
- Kansas
- Houston
- Texas A&M
- Michigan State
- Oregon
- UConn
- Mississippi State
- Gonzaga
- Purdue
- Memphis
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Ole Miss
- Utah State
- Georgia
- Wisconsin
- Baylor
