South Carolina vs Mississippi State Prediction College Basketball Picks 1/4/25

The South Carolina Gamecocks and the Mississippi State Bulldogs meet Tuesday in college basketball action from the Humphrey Coliseum. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a South Carolina vs. Mississippi State prediction.

South Carolina Recap

The South Carolina Gamecocks come into this game looking to build on their 69-59 win over Presbyterian last time out. After this game, South Carolina will head home for a matchup with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Gamecocks Win 7th Straight

Collin Murray-Boyles leads the Gamecocks in scoring and rebounding with 16.6 PPG and 9.3 RPG while Jamarii Thomas has 12.6 PPG with a team-high 3.3 APG to lead South Carolina in the assist department this season. Nick Pringle has 10.6 PPG and 6.7 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for South Carolina up to this point in the year while Zachary Davis has 8.6 PPG with 3.8 RPG and Jacobi Wright has 9.3 PPG with 2.7 APG as well this season. As a team, South Carolina is averaging 75.6 PPG on 45.8% shooting from the field, 35.2% from three and 69.2% from the foul line this season.

Why the South Carolina Gamecocks will win

• South Carolina has won each of its last seven games.

Mississippi State Recap

The Mississippi State Bulldogs come into this game looking to add on to their 87-73 win over Bethune Cookman last time out to climb to 12-1 on the year. After this game, Mississippi State will head out on the road to take on Vanderbilt.

Bulldogs Win 6th In A Row

Josh Hubbard leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 17.5 PPG and 3.2 APG while KeShawn Murphy has 10.2 PPG with a team-high 7.8 RPG to lead the Bulldogs on the glass. Claudell Harris Jr. has 10.5 PPG while Riley Kugel has 10.3 PPG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Mississippi State up to this point in the year. Cameron Matthews has 7.3 PPG with 7.2 RPG and a team-high 4.1 APG to lead the Bulldogs in assists. As a team, Mississippi State is averaging 83.9 PPG on 46.9% shooting from the field, 34.2% from three and 68.9% from the foul line this season.

Why the Mississippi State Bulldogs will win

• Mississippi State has won each of its last nine games at Humphrey Coliseum against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• South Carolina has lost nine of its last 10 day games against AP-ranked opponents.

Total Points Facts

• Fifteen of Mississippi State’s last 16 day games against Conference opponents have produced a total of 141 or fewer points.
• Nineteen of South Carolina’s last 24 games against Conference opponents have produced a total of 142 or fewer points.

South Carolina vs. Mississippi State Prediction

I’m on Mississippi State here. I just think the Bulldogs are the better team in this matchup and while South Carolina has a couple of decent wins like beating Clemson at home, they’ve only had two true road games. One was a win over a Boston College team that I don’t think is very good, and the other was a 16-point loss to Indiana which is comparable to the talent level that the Gamecocks are up against here. Mississippi State is also probably the toughest place that South Carolina has had to go to on the road so far this season and I think that the home court could prove to be the difference here. Give me Mississippi State laying the points in this one.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: Mississippi State -9.5