McNeese Hoops Taking On #25 Mississippi State This Weekend

Will Wade and his Bayou Bandits are off to Tupelo, Mississippi for another tough non-conference matchup against their 2nd Top-25 opponent of the season.

The Pokes are currently 5-4 after they picked up a win last Saturday against LeTourneau after dropping back-to-back games to Liberty and Santa Clara. McNeese currently has one of the toughest schedules in the country, a complete 360 from just a year ago. Some of that is by design, the other part is the inability to be able to schedule quality opponents during the offseason.

If Wade and his bunch of Bandits want to take down a Top-25 opponent on Saturday, they will have to create and hit their open looks from deep. The inside game will be one to watch as Mississippi State is a quality team underneath with multiple guys over 6-10.

Earlier in the week, Mississippi State Head Coach Chris Jans spoke about Will Wade and McNeese with On3....

We didn’t play them last year so I really didn’t know their team last year and not familiar with their team last year. Just getting a deeper dive on them now but a lot of medium-sized, good-looking athletes who are strong and have been around and experienced. They’re very physical, play really hard, and have a well-coached basketball team. They get to the line. They rebound the ball and they play a lot of guys.

 

They’ve been prepared. They’ve played good competition and they’ve played really good programs. So they’ve kind of seen and been there, done that already in the still-early stage of the season.

 

We just talked about we are our best when we have a defensive mindset and we’re trying to establish ourselves on that end of the floor. It’s always about a battle of wills, our will as a unit against their will. I think in this game that is what will happen. Who’s going to impose their will first, the most will end up winning the game. For us, it’s where it starts and just establishing ourselves, being tough on the ball, and being in the right position. Trying to get multiple stops requires multiple efforts. I think in the end, it’s that and being relentless in the rebounding game will end up being two big factors in the game.

Once the Cowboys get back from Tupelo, they will have a little over a week to reset before they head to Lafayette for a matchup with the Ragin' Cajuns. Louisiana-Lafayette has struggled as of late, but was able to pick up their first Division I win this week by defeating Southeastern Louisiana.

Pokes will begin conference play on December 28th vs UNO.

McNeese and Mississippi State will be on Saturday in Tupelo at 5:00 and the game will be broadcast on National Television on ESPNU. Bruce Merchant will be on site for the McNeese Sports Network and will have the call on Power 92.1.