Mississippi State was the biggest riser in this week's AP Poll, moving up from #23 to #17 after its 69-51 over Minnesota.

Chris Jans has his team playing a brand of basketball we haven't seen at Mississippi State. The suffocating Bulldog defense has held each opponent they've played to 55 points or less on its way to a 9-0 start, and it's helped earn Mississippi State it's highest ranking since January 7th, 2019, where they were ranked #14.

The Bulldogs are currently 2nd in the nation in scoring defense, surrendering 49.8 points per contest, just 0.1 more than #5 Houston. They've excelled at creating turnovers, ranking 5th in college basketball with 11.2 steals per game, thanks to 3.0 from Shakeel Moore, and rank #3 in field goal percentage allowed at 33.9%.

Senior big man Tolu Smith has led the charge for the Bulldogs with 16.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Smith had helped Mississippi State become one of the top rebounding teams in college basketball, ranking third in the nation with 15.2 offensive rebounds per game.

Mississippi State has built a strong ​résumé with Quadrant-1 victories over Marquette and Utah in Fort Myers. The Bulldogs currently rank #6 in the NCAA NET Rankings, putting them squarely in the mix come Selection Sunday.

The Bulldogs have a chance to remain undefeated this week as they'll take on Jackson State at the Mississippi Coliseum on Wednesday and Nicholls State back in Starkville on Saturday. Their next big test will come on December 20th against Drake, who has built a reputation as one of the top mid-majors in college basketball over the past few seasons.