Baylor is coming into this game with a 19-14 record this season and they were 10-10 in their conference. They have won 3 of their last 5 games with their 2 losses in that span coming against Houston and Texas Tech, both teams being better in the conference. They struggled a bit in the Big 12 this season, but they did go 8-3 in their non-conference schedule and they did not play an easy non-conference schedule either. They went 1-1 against the SEC as well, losing to Tennessee but beating Arkansas. They are going up against a Mississippi State team that is 21-12 this season and they were 8-10 in their conference. They played in the strongest conference in the country and had many chances to play ranked opponents, but they were still under .500 in the SEC and lost a majority of their games against ranked opponents. Their only win was a win at home against Texas A&M when they were starting to spiral near the end of the season. They did beat Ole Miss in both games, but the rest of their wins were them beating up on weaker teams in the conference. They started the season 11-1 as they were great in the non-conference, but they also had a much weaker schedule. They only played 4 teams from power conference and won 3 of those games, but they beat up on Pittsburgh and Utah who were both awful teams while their other win came against SMU who did not even make the tournament. They also lost by 10 points to a bad Butler team. Mississippi State has not been a good shooting team this season and they have not been good at defending either. Making the tournament is also a big deal for them as they do not go often while Baylor consistently makes the tournament and their coach will have them ready to go in this 1st game. Baylor will cover the spread in this game.