The Arizona State Sun Devils and Mississippi State Bulldogs will compete against one another to see which team can land a win first. The Bulldogs are small favorites in this game with a spread of -4.5 (-110).

The Sun Devils are coming off of a successful 23-13 season under coach Bobby Hurley. They lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament against the TCU Horned Frogs 72-70 to put their season to an end.

Despite a solid record, they went 11-9 in conference play under the PAC-12. They are aiming to improve upon their fifth place finish here last year.

They ranked 189^th in points per game, as they averaged 71.1. Their efficiency on offense came in at a rating of 101.9, which ranked 238^th. This is a solid performance with the ball, but they will struggle if they cannot produce quality offense.

Their defense was respectable, as they allowed teams to average 68.0 points per game and rank 117^th nationally. Their efficiency at slowing teams down came at a rating of 97.5, which was 71^st-best in the country last year.

The Bulldogs also lost in the second round of the tournament last year, but at the hands of the Pittsburgh Panthers 60-59. They capped off their season with a 21-13 record under coach Chris Jans, which was his first year with the program.

Even though they had a winning record, they were not successful in conference play. They went 8-10 in the SEC and finished ninth here.

Stacking up against teams, they averaged 65.7 points per game (323^rd) and were efficient on offense with a rating of 99.8 (280^th). This will need to improve this season if they want any chances at a tournament push.

On defense they were much more appealing and slowed down the pace of the other offense. They allowed 61.0 points per game (ninth) and had a defense efficiency rating of 92.6 (11^th). This will be key to their success each matchup.

MyBookie offers the odds and is showing that the Mississippi State Bulldogs have a slight chance to win here. According to market analysis, the Bulldogs have a 61.6 percent chance to win.

Both teams have quality backgrounds from a year ago that can make this a competitive opportunity. The Bulldogs were not attractive on offense, whereas the Sun Devils were at least respectable on both ends of the court.