Looking back

MSU’s slide continued with a pair of road losses – 93-75 loss to Ole Miss on Wednesday, and 83-58 to No. 2 Florida on Saturday. The Bulldogs’ eight-game losing streak is their longest since losing nine in a row in 1987.

The Florida game was played without junior guard Jalen Steele, who’s been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.

Looking ahead

State returns home Wednesday to host Missouri (17-6, 6-4), then gets back on the road Saturday for a rematch with LSU (13-8, 4-6). The Tigers beat MSU 69-68 in Starkville on Feb. 2 on Anthony Hickey’s last-second bucket.

Who’s hot

Foul trouble limited him to four points in 17 minutes at Ole Miss, but freshman center Gavin Ware had a strong showing versus Florida. He scored a team-high 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and snagged six rebounds. Ware is averaging 11.5 points over the last six games.

Who’s not

While Tyson Cunningham is not a primary offensive weapon, he has been a reliable shooter when he puts it up. But the last two games, Cunningham has made only 1 of 7 shots, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range.

RPI watch

MSU’s RPI rank is up a bit this week, to 224, thanks to the level of competition it faced last week.

Looking ahead to this week’s games, Missouri’s RPI rank is 32, while LSU’s is 109.

Bottom line

With Steele out, the Bulldogs are now even younger than before. This losing streak could last a while, but there are some winnable games out there – assuming the players’ confidence isn’t shot.