The LSU women’s basketball team will compete against its third top-20 opponent in four contests when it travels to Starkville, Mississippi, to challenge the No. 15 Mississippi State Bulldogs on Thursday at 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.
LSU (8-8, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) will look to get above .500 and play its second straight road game after losing to Texas A&M on Jan. 11. Mississippi State (18-1, 3-1 SEC) is looking to rebound after losing its first game of the season to Vanderbilt, which LSU defeated last week.
The matchup against Mississippi State is a continuation of the tough conference schedule for LSU, who will also face No. 10 Kentucky this Sunday.
The Lady Tigers have lost three of their last six contests and will be looking to hand the Bulldogs their first home loss of the season.
LSU coach Nikki Caldwell said her team needs to put pressure on the home team and make its presence felt early and often.
“It’s going to be an advantage because they are on their home court, and when that ball is thrown up, you can silence a crowd,” Caldwell said. “You don’t have to allow them to get going, because we know how that feels here at the PMAC.”
Mississippi State began its season with the best start in its history, winning 18 straight games before falling on the road in Nashville, Tennessee. 
LSU will look to contain the SEC’s No. 1 offense and NCAA’s No. 11 offense, as the Bulldogs score 80.1 points per game and hold an average scoring margin of 25.9. Freshman forward Victoria Vivians leads Mississippi State with 15.3 points per game, with freshman guard Morgan William second on the team with 10.2.
Caldwell said the young players for Mississippi State deserve extra attention from the Lady Tigers’ defense.
“Offensively, you have to make sure that we are aware of their guard play. Vivians can shoot the basketball from anywhere she touches it,” Caldwell said. “We are going to have to focus in on not allowing her to go off because she is very capable.” 
LSU’s recent offensive struggles have led to the Lady Tigers’ increased emphasis on defense. 
With LSU’s offense scoring 62.5 points per game, junior guard Akilah Bethel said the team’s development on defense should lead to improvements on offense.
“We can’t have let-downs on both ends of the court. Defensively, it’s something that you can control,” Bethel said. “You can control whether you’re intense, whether your hands are high. I think that’ll be better for us because defense creates
offense.”
The Lady Tigers’ ability to keep up with a high-scoring Mississippi State team will depend largely on their ability to play up-tempo defense and get more teammates involved on a
consistent basis offensively.
Senior forward Sheila Boykin said playing the Lady Tigers’ style of inside-out basketball and feeding the ball to their playmakers will increase their offensive output.
“Coach has been harping a lot on feeding the hot hand,” Boykin said. “Someone is getting hot, someone is getting momentum, and I don’t know why, but we just deviate from it for a while. And the next thing you know, it’s just too late.”
You can reach Stanton Vignes on Twitter @StanVignes_TDR.