Mississippi State basketball earned a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament and drew another MSU as its opponent.

And according to CBS Sports analysts Clark Kellogg and Jay Wright, the Bulldogs' opponent, No. 9-seeded Michigan State, is a challenging one.

"With Tom Izzo, I've read that he's about a 65% winner in games where his team is the lower seed," Kellogg said Sunday. "You cannot go and catch Michigan State. And they've played some of their best basketball here lately. Even though they haven't gotten the win results, they're playing better."

Wright agreed.

"They are playing well right now you're right," he said. "Great game against Purdue in the (Big Ten) tournament,"

Michigan State and coach Tom Izzo are in the NCAA Tournament for the 26th year in a row.

The Spartans (18-13) have only been the lower seed in the first round four times in those 26 years, twice as a No. 9 seed and two other times as a No. 10 seed. The two times they've been a No. 9 seed (2017 and 2007) Michigan State beat the opposing No. 8 seed. It lost both games as a No. 10 seed.

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Michigan State came into the season with high expectations as a preseason top 10 team, but have experienced mixed results with losses to James Madison, Minnesota, Iowa and Ohio State, but also wins against Illinois, Baylor and Northwestern. It beat Minnesota in its first game of the Big Ten tournament, but then lost to Purdue, 67-62, in the quarterfinals.

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas disagreed with his CBS counterparts, saying he likes the outlook for Mississippi State (21-13).

"I think Mississippi State is a superior team to Michigan State," he said.

Sam Sklar is the Southern Miss beat reporter for the Hattiesburg American. Email him at ssklar@hattiesb.gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: CBS experts don't like Mississippi State's chances vs Michigan State