Auburn-Mississippi St. Preview

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury says fatigue is probably the biggest reason for his team's recent struggles.

Having not played for a week and opening a three-game homestand Saturday against Auburn may be just what the 22nd-ranked Bulldogs need to get back on track.

Mississippi State (17-5, 4-3 SEC) completed a stretch of four games in 11 days last Saturday with a 69-57 loss at then-No. 14 Florida. The Bulldogs split those four contests, with their wins coming by a combined six points.

They trailed by four in the second half last weekend before the Gators went on an 11-0 run to take a 62-47 lead, and Mississippi State never cut the deficit to single digits.

The Bulldogs used just seven players in the game, with starters Arnett Moultrie, Dee Bost and Rodney Hood each playing at least 34 minutes. Bost leads the SEC with 35.0 minutes per game, while Moultrie and Hood are tied for second with an average of 34.2.

"We battled, we were right there," Stansbury said. "At the 32-minute mark it was a four-point game. ... Does fatigue cause you sometime late in that game to maybe not be as functional and miss some shots or turn it over? Partly so sometimes."

Moultrie, who leads Mississippi State with an average of 16.8 points and tops the SEC with 11.3 rebounds per game, scored 12 on 4-of-10 shooting.

"He gets tired some, too," Stansbury said. "No question we ask a lot out of him."

Stansbury welcomed the week off between games and is happy to be back home, where the Bulldogs are 12-1.

"Just not the physical rest, but the mental drag it puts on your basketball team. Mentally trying to get up at that level every night you got to be up. There's no easy games. We just came out of a tough stretch."

Next up for Mississippi State is Auburn (13-9, 3-5), which beat Georgia 59-51 at home Wednesday for just its third win in nine games.

Junior guard Varez Ward scored 17 points - hitting all 12 of his free throw attempts - and Kenny Gabriel added 16 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the Tigers, who are averaging a league-low 54.9 points in conference play.

"We were able to break the ice on the rim. We were able to get it going," coach Tony Barbee told Auburn's official website. "When we get stops on defense and play fast in the transition like that, then that will lead to easy buckets and boy do we need to find a way to get some easy buckets."

Ward, averaging 8.9 points, has reached double figures in back-to-back games for just the third time in his career.

"Honestly this is the best I've felt all year, going into this game," he said. "I had a few injuries earlier in the year, and now I'm able to show my real game, attacking the basket."

Auburn has lost six of seven on the road, averaging 53.6 points and shooting 36.7 percent.

These teams split a pair of meetings last season, with each winning at home. Auburn has taken four of six in the series since the start of 2008-09.