Mississippi State Bulldogs vs Memphis Tigers Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 12/21/24

The Memphis Tigers will look to rattle Mississippi State with their full-court pressure as these two teams get ready to face off Saturday afternoon.  The Tigers just barely escaped with a victory over Virginia, defeating them by a final score of 64-62.  As for Mississippi St, they had no issues handling Central Michigan in their last start, defeating them by a final score of 83-59. As these two teams get ready to take the court, I think Memphis has a slight edge in Saturday’s matchup and here’s why. 

Memphis has had some big wins so far this season.  They’ve defeated teams like UConn, Michigan State, and Clemson.  As for Mississippi State, they defeated a solid Pittsburgh team, and squeaked out a win against SMU, but they’ve also got lucky and barely beat McNeese last week.  Memphis has plenty of talent on this team with PJ Haggerty averaging 22.4 points per game, which leads this Tigers team in scoring so far this season.  Haggerty isn’t the only reason this team has been successful this season, they also have players like Tyrese Hunter who’s averaging 15.6 points per game and Colby Rogers who’s averaging 12.5 points per game.  This Memphis team shoots the ball very well from deep, shooting 41.9% from 3-point range. Mississippi State will need to limit the number of deep-range shots this Tigers team makes if they want to keep it close.  Mississippi State has Josh Hubbard who is averaging 18 points per game, and Claudell Harris Jr. who’s averaging 10.7 points per game, but they don’t have the depth like this Memphis Team does.  I think Mississippi State will hang around for a little, but at the end, look for Haggerty and this Memphis team to run away, picking up a victory on Saturday afternoon. 

Mississippi State vs Memphis prediction: Memphis -1 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.