The Arkansas basketball team (18-12, 7-10 SEC) has one game left in the regular season Saturday afternoon against the No. 25 Mississippi State Bulldogs (20-10, 8-9 SEC) at Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas bounced back from its loss to South Carolina a week ago and got a much-needed 90-77 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night, while the Bulldogs lost to Texas, 87-82, in overtime.
As of now, Arkansas appears to be in good standing for an NCAA Tournament berth, though the Hogs are still very much on the bubble. A win over the Bulldogs will do a lot of good for cementing their tournament hopes, and associate head coach Chin Coleman said the team is focused on controlling its destiny.
"We’re not satisfied with where we’re at," Coleman said Friday. "We’re not going to leave this up to anybody, any committee or any bracketeer or bracketologist to decide our fate in terms of whether we’re in the NCAA Tournament or not. What we do have is an opportunity in our building a Quad 1 team, a ranked, top-25 team in our building. And we can only control what we can control. And our goal right now is to beat Mississippi State."
Taking down Mississippi State is easier said than done, however. The Bulldogs are in the top five in the SEC in offensive rebounds and have an electric scorer in guard Josh Hubbard, who averages 18.3 points per game.
"They got three guys that almost average two rebounds or more on the offensive glass," Coleman said. "They also have as dynamic as can get in a guard in (Josh) Hubbard. I mean, he's small in size, but he's got a big game. Big, big, big, big-time game. So they're a good team, top 25 team. What can I say? I mean, it's the SEC. It is what it is. Man, there's no there's no gimmies, there's no letdowns,"
Arkansas and Mississippi State have met on 69 different occasions, and the Hogs have a slight 35-34 advantage. The Bulldogs, however, have won nine of the last 11 games in the series.
Below are details on how to watch, BetSaracen betting lines, links to stream and links to all of our coverage leading up to the game...
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How to Watch/Listen
Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (18-12, 7-10 SEC) vs. No. 25 Mississippi State (20-10, 8-9 SEC)
When: Saturday, March 8 at 11 a.m. CT
Where: Bud Walton Arena — Fayetteville, Arkansas
TV/Stream: SEC Network / Watch ESPN (Kevin Fitzgerald and Ron Slay)
Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
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BetSaracen Odds
Below are details on the betting odds for the game and Double R Prop bets. To get in on the action, visit BetSaracen.com and click on the Arkansas Specials tab.
(Lines and odds are subject to change at any point after the publishing of this story. HawgBeat does not guarantee any bet as a winner or loser. You must be at least 21 years of age to use BetSaracen. If you have a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit 1800gambler.net)
*All odds accurate as of the publishing of this story. They are subject to change.*
Moneyline/Spread
- Arkansas: -115, +1 (-115)
- Mississippi State: -105, -1 (-105)
- O/U: 148.5 (-110/-110)
