The 2019–20 Mississippi State Bulldogs basketball team represented Mississippi State University in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bulldogs, led by fifth-year head coach Ben Howland, played their home games at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Mississippi as members of the Southeastern Conference. They finished the season 20–11, 11–7 in SEC play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They were set to be the No. 4 seed in the SEC tournament with a bye to the quarterfinals. However, the SEC Tournament and all other postseason tournaments were cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Previous season The Bulldogs finished the 2018–19 season 23–11, 10–8 in SEC play to finish in a tie for sixth place. They defeated Texas A&M in the second round of the SEC tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Tennessee. They were received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where were defeated by Liberty in the first round.

Offseason

Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Lamar Peters 2 G 6'0" 185 Junior New Orleans, LA Play professionally T. J. Gray 4 G 6'0" 165 Junior Columbus, MS Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons Quinndary Weatherspoon 11 G 6'4" 205 Senior Camden, MS Graduated Aric Holman 35 F 6'10" 225 Senior Owensboro, KY Graduated Jethro Tshisumpa 42 F 6'10" 260 Junior Lubumbashi, Congo Transferred to Texas Southern

Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Tolu Smith 35 F 6'10" 240 Sophomore Bay St. Louis, MS Transferred from Western Kentucky. Under NCAA transfer rules, Smith will have to sit out for the 2019–20 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility.

2019 recruiting class

2020 Recruiting class

Preseason

SEC media poll The SEC media poll was released on October 15, 2019.

Media poll 1 Kentucky 2 Florida 3 LSU 4 Auburn 5 Tennessee 6 Alabama 7 Mississippi State 8 Ole Miss 9 Georgia 10 South Carolina 11 Arkansas 12 Texas A&M 13 Missouri 14 Vanderbilt

Preseason All-SEC teams The Bulldogs had one player selected to the preseason all-SEC teams.

First Team

Reggie Perry

Roster

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=|Exhibition

!colspan=12 style=|Regular season

!colspan=12 style=| SEC tournament

Mississippi State Bulldogs basketball schedule

References