Opportunity knocks for No. 21 Mississippi State and Oklahoma

No. 21 Mississippi State knocked off ranked opponents in its last two games. That doesn’t mean the Bulldogs think any less of unranked Oklahoma as they prepare for an SEC clash Saturday in Norman, Okla.The Bulldogs (19-7, 7-6 SEC) bounced No. 7 Texas A&M 70-54 on Tuesday in Starkville, which built on an 81-71 win at No. 19 Ole Miss on Saturday. The pair of signature wins excite Mississippi State coach Chris Jans, but he knows there are still challenges remaining.”You get giddy looking at the schedule when it comes to how many opportunities you are going to have because of how well the SEC did in the nonconference portion of the season,” Jans said. “But if you don’t take advantage of them, they are just missed opportunities. They aren’t moving the needle. Sometimes they can move the needle in the wrong way. With five games left, every one of them will be really hard. With what we are trying to do and where we want to go, we have to take care of those opportunities.”Josh Hubbard led the Bulldogs with 25 points against the Aggies. He’s the Bulldogs’ leading scorer at 17.8 points per game. Claudell Harris Jr., who averages 10.2 points, scored 15 off the bench in the Texas A&M win.Oklahoma coach Porter Moser knows the time is now for the Sooners to take advantage of their opportunities. Most projections have the Sooners (16-10, 3-10) as one of the last teams in the NCAA Tournament, but Moser doesn’t want to rely on the strength of the SEC and their nonconference wins to drag the Sooners into the tournament. He wants them to enter March on a high note.”Opportunity,” Moser said. “I know I keep saying that, but there are still opportunities and a lot to play for. We just need to get back in the winning column for confidence, for a lot of reasons.”

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