Two of the Southeastern Conference’s best teams will collide Saturday night in Starkville, Miss., when the Volunteers of Tennessee hit the road to face off against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Both teams enter the contest at 5-1 in conference play.

The Vols are coming off a 93-86 victory against Alabama on Tuesday.

Chris Lofton seems to have found his shooting stroke as he hit five three-pointers and led the team with 23 points.

JaJuan Smith was also hot from the outside, hitting four threes and scoring 22 points.

Tyler Smith chipped in 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for his third double-double as a Vol.

The Bulldogs lost to the Arkansas Razorbacks 78-58 Wednesday.

State went into the game looking for their 10^th straight win. However; the Razorbacks forced the Dogs to turn the ball over 22 times en route to the win.

The key for UT against State will be freeing up Lofton to get the ball in his hands.

He is shooting 50 percent from behind the arc in his last four games.

Other keys to the game for UT are rebounding and finishing shots around the rim.

The Bulldogs average 41.5 rebounds, compared to Tennessee's 37 rebounds per game.

The Vols found success on the glass against Alabama and will look to continue that success this weekend.

Entering the weekend the Bulldogs are second in the nation to Connecticut in blocked shots per game.

The Bulldogs average 8.6 blocks per game and Jarvis Varnado is their anchor.

He averages five rejections a night, and against Kentucky on Jan. 15, he earned a triple-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocks.

Jamont Gordon leads the Bulldogs with 17.9 points and four assists, while pre-season All-SEC Charles Rhodes pick is second on the team with 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds a game.

Coach Bruce Pearl will also look to get JaJuan and Tyler Smith the ball. They are averaging 14 and 13 points per game, respectively.

Both players find other ways to fill the stat sheet, as JaJuan leads the team with two steals a game while Tyler pulls down 6.2 rebounds a night.

Expect JaJuan to defend Gordon most of the night.

The match-ups will be interesting in a game that should go down to the wire.

Miscellaneous Notes

• UT is 18-2 and MSU is 14-6.
• In Starkville, the Dogs lead the series 26-24 while UT leads the overall series 72-38.
  
• MSU coach Rick Stansbury is looking for his 200^th victory.
• Tennessee is No. 1 in the nation with almost 20 assists per game and second nationally with 10.9 steals.