Mississippi State vs Georgia Tech Odds, Pick
| Mississippi State Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-8.5 -115 | 136.5 -115o / -105u | -500 |
| Georgia Tech Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+8.5 -105 | 136.5 -115o / -105u | +360 |
The longtime ACC/Big Ten Challenge has been replaced by the ACC/SEC Challenge, which begins Tuesday night. One of the first tip-offs takes place at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta as the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets host the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs enter this contest with a perfect 6-0 record, while sitting 19th in the KenPom rankings. Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets got off to a promising 2-0 start in Damon Stoudamire’s first season as head coach, but they've dropped their last two games.
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Since Chris Jans took over as head coach in Starkville prior to the 2021-22 season, the Bulldogs are 18-2 against non-conference opponents.
Mississippi State has jumped out to a 6-0 start for the second straight season (the Bulldogs began 11-0 last season), which includes a pair of top-60 wins on a back-to-back set against Washington State and Northwestern.
The Bulldogs haven’t won a game by fewer than nine points, capped off by a 74-61 home victory over Nicholls State last Friday.
The key for Mississippi State so far this season is its defense, which ranks second in the nation in effective field goal percentage (40.5%).
Also, the Bulldogs have limited opponents to 24% shooting from 3-point range, including 12-of-46 in the last two games.
Only two Bulldogs are averaging double figures this season, led by freshman guard Josh Hubbard (16.2 PPG) and senior forward Jimmy Bell Jr. (10.0 PPG).
The SEC is certainly loaded this season, as Mississippi State — in spite of being ranked 19th by KenPom — has five conference foes sitting ahead of it (Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, Kentucky and Texas A&M).
From an ATS perspective, the Bulldogs have taken care of business by covering in five of six wins. However, this is the first true road game of the season for Mississippi State, which has played three neutral-site contests and three home games.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech reached the Final Four 20 seasons ago, but the Yellow Jackets are nowhere near that goal at the moment. The Ramblin’ Wreck is fresh off consecutive losing seasons, as they look to dig out of the bottom half of the ACC.
Stoudamire’s squad started with back-to-back home wins over Georgia Southern and Howard, topping the 84-point mark in each victory.
However, Tech only led Georgia Southern by two points with 10 minutes remaining before going on a 32-12 run to end the game and grab the cover as 10.5-point favorites.
Against Howard, the Jackets had to erase a 14-point second-half deficit before outsourcing the Bison 26-16 in the last 10 minutes for an 88-85 win. They failed to cash as 10-point chalk.
Georgia Tech’s first loss came to a solid UMass Lowell team from the America East as 4.5-point home favorites.
The Jackets limited the River Hawks to 2-of-15 shooting from 3-point range, but Tech shot 6-of-30 from long distance. Dallan Coleman knocked down 5-of-9 shots from 3-point land for Tech, meaning the rest of the team went just 1-of-21 from deep.
Georgia Tech was humbled in an 89-54 defeat at Cincinnati as 9.5-point underdogs. The Bearcats outscored the Jackets 38-7 to start the second half, and Tech converted on only 12-of-32 attempts from 2-point range.
Last season, the Jackets covered in only three of nine tries as a home underdog, but those included wins over Miami and Virginia Tech.
Mississippi State vs. Georgia Tech
Betting Pick & Prediction
Mississippi State opened as 10-point road favorites, and although this seems like a heavy number to lay, there's definitely a class difference between these teams.
The Bulldogs are one of the top defensive teams in the nation and the Yellow Jackets are still figuring things out under Stoudamire.
Let's lay the points with Mississippi State and take it up to -11.
Pick: Mississippi State -9.5 (Play to -11)
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