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Butler Bulldogs @ Miss. State Bulldogs

Current Records: Butler 5-1, Miss. State 6-0

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What to Know

The Butler Bulldogs and the Miss. State Bulldogs will face off at 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday at Mullett Arena without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Butler comes in on four and Miss. State on six.

Butler will head into Thursday's game hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big on Friday (they won by 39) but on Thursday they proved they can win the close ones too. They had just enough and edged Northwestern out 71-69.

Among those leading the charge was Jahmyl Telfort, who went 7 for 12 en route to 23 points plus five assists. He had some trouble finding his footing against Merrimack on Friday, so this was a step in the right direction. The team also got some help courtesy of Andre Screen, who almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine rebounds.

Meanwhile, Miss. State made easy work of UNLV on Thursday and carried off an 80-58 win. The Bulldogs have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four matches by 21 points or more this season.

KeShawn Murphy was the offensive standout of the matchup as he dropped a double-double on 14 points and 13 rebounds. Cameron Matthews was another key player, earning two points plus three steals.

Miss. State smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've posted since back in January.

Butler's victory bumped their record up to 5-1. As for Miss. State, their win bumped their record up to 6-0.

Keep an eye on the arc in Friday's contest: Butler has made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having averaged 8.7 threes per game. However, it's not like Miss. State struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.7. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.

Butler is hoping to beat the odds on Friday, as the experts think they're headed for a loss. They might be worth a quick bet since they've covered the spread the last four times they've played.

Odds

Miss. State is a big 8-point favorite against Butler, according to the latest college basketball odds.

The oddsmakers had a good feel for the line for this one, as the game opened with the Bulldogs as a 7.5-point favorite.


The over/under is 146 points.

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