Thursday, March 12th, 3:15 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: St. Pete Times Forum (21,655) -- Tampa, Florida. Television: Raycom. Home Record: Georgia 10-8, Mississippi St. 13-5. Away Record: Georgia 1-9, Mississippi St. 5-4. Neutral Record: Georgia 1-2, Mississippi St. 1-3. Conference Record: Georgia 3-13, Mississippi St. 9-7. Series Record: Mississippi State leads, 50-49.

GAME NOTES: The Georgia Bulldogs, the SEC East Division's sixth seed, will attempt to upset the third-seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs from the West Division in the first round of the 2009 SEC Tournament. Whichever team emerges victorious from this clash will move on to face second-seeded South Carolina in the quarterfinal round. Last season, Georgia shocked everyone by winning this event. Thanks to that miraculous run, the club now has two SEC titles to its credit, but the Bulldogs are still 37-46 all-time at this tournament. They have only posted three victories against SEC teams all season, but those three wins did come in the final seven regular season games. As for Mississippi State, it is a woeful 21-46 overall in this tournament, but these Bulldogs have two tourney titles as well. They are 19-12 overall this season, including 9-7 against SEC foes, and they closed out the regular season with back-to-back victories. Mississippi State beat Georgia in a 67-61 final during the regular season to take a 50-49 lead in the all-time series between the two teams.

Georgia depends heavily on two players at the offensive end of the floor. Terrance Woodbury continues to lead the team in scoring with 14.0 ppg, although his 38.8 percent shooting from the field isn't exactly impressive. As for Trey Thompkins, he provides 12.7 ppg and 7.4 rpg. No other player for the team is generating more than 7.4 ppg. Georgia is last in the league in scoring, as it is netting only 65.1 ppg, and it is the only SEC team with a negative scoring margin. The squad is last in the conference in both field goal percentage and assist/turnover margin, but the Bulldogs did play their best ball late in the regular season as mentioned and figure to enter this tournament with some confidence.

Mississippi State is led by defensive standout Jarvis Varnado, who has 143 blocks to his credit, 59 more than his closest contender in the league. Varnado was recently named the conference's defensive player of the year for the second consecutive season, and he ranks fourth in the SEC in rebounding (9.0 rpg). MSU is seventh in the conference in both scoring offense and scoring defense. Ravern Johnson brings 12.5 ppg to the floor for the Bulldogs, who are getting 12.1 ppg from Barry Stewart. Keep an eye on Dee Bost, a dynamic freshman point guard who is scoring 11.5 ppg in addition to his 4.4 apg. Clearly, MSU is a much more balanced offensive team than Georgia.

Don't expect another title run for Georgia this season. Varnado will dominate the paint, leading MSU to a solid victory.

Predicted Outcome

Mississippi State 71, Georgia 60