GAME NOTES: Still in search of their first Southeastern Conference victory of the season, the Mississippi State Bulldogs are set to host Vanderbilt Saturday afternoon at Humphrey Coliseum.

Vanderbilt has dropped two straight after a four-game win streak. The Commodores hosted Georgia on Wednesday night and were dealt a 70-67 setback despite a late rally. Beginning with this contest, they will play four of their next five on the road.

Mississippi State has lost three in a row, all in league play, including Tuesday's 74-70 decision at Texas A&M. Now back in Starkville following a brief two-game road swing, the Bulldogs will look to get back on track with a victory on Alumni Weekend before hitting the road again to face Auburn on Wednesday.

Vanderbilt has won the last two head-to-head meetings against Mississippi State and leads the all-time series, 76-46.

Vanderbilt freshman Riley LaChance led all scorers with 21 points against Georgia, his 12th time in double figures this season, while teammate Damian Jones finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss. After shooting 1-of-11 from beyond the arc in the first half, Vandy nearly overcame a 14- point deficit in the second half by draining 8-of-16 threes over the final 20 minutes. However, the Commodores were never quite able to quiet the Bulldogs from the perimeter, where they shot 10-of-17 for the game to mark the best 3- point percentage (.588) against Vandy all season. The outcome ended the Commodores' nine-game win streak in the head-to-head series with UGA.

Vandy is a young squad headlined by the sophomore Jones, who is averaging a team-best 15.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per tilt. His .538 field-goal percentage ranks second in the SEC, although he missed his first five shots in Wednesday's loss and finished just 3-of-10 from the field amidst constant double teams. LaChance is next in line with 13.4 ppg as he leads all SEC freshmen in scoring and is second in the league overall in 3-point field goal percentage (.413). Shelton Mitchell leads all freshmen in assists (4.4 apg), while teammate and fellow freshman Wade Baldwin IV is second (4.2).

Mississippi State has struggled offensively for stretches, largely because the Bulldogs are among the nation's least efficient teams from the perimeter. They are shooting just 28.5 percent from distance, which ranks 325th out of 345 NCAA squads. Opposing defenses have been able to collapse the paint with little repercussion on dribble penetrations. Fred Thomas and Roquez Johnson share team-high scoring honors for the Bulldogs with 10.4 ppg apiece.

In Tuesday's setback at Texas A&M, sophomore I.J. Ready came through with a career-high 18 points. However, the Bulldogs were ultimately not able to overcome a 10-point second-half deficit despite getting it down to a single possession twice in the final minute. Travis Daniels had 14 points and seven rebounds, Johnson tallied 13 points and seven boards, and Thomas finished with 12 points and six caroms off the bench. Mississippi State shot 10-of-23 as a team from the perimeter.

Despite the end result, the Bulldogs turned in one of their better efforts of the season last time out. But even with a similar performance here, they will be hard-pressed to earn a different outcome. Vanderbilt shares the ball (15.9 apg), leads the conference in field-goal percentage (.495) and is second in 3- point percentage (.385).