Mississippi State 69, Texas A&M 60

[recap] [box score]

Rarely does a team win a college basketball game in the first eight minutes, but that's basically what Mississippi State did tonight.

In that time, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 24-9 lead, hitting their first five three-pointers. And Texas A&M's Ray Turner -- who had scored 20 points in each of the Aggies' first two games -- picked up two quick fouls. A&M was already without its best player, Khris Middleton, who will be on the shelf for a few weeks after he tore his meniscus in the season-opening win over Liberty. With Middleton in street clothes and Turner riding the pine because of the foul trouble, Texas A&M had nowhere to turn for offense, and having dug themselves into such a deep hole, they really couldn't get out.

Akron 68, Mississippi State 58

[recap] [box score]

Technically, this game was part of the 2k Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. I'm not counting it, though. Why? Because despite winning this game, Akron will not be advancing to the semifinals on November 17. It was pre-ordained that no matter what happened in these early "rounds," Arizona, Mississippi State, St. John's, and Texas A&M would make the trip to Madison Square Garden.

There are plenty of potential good reasons for this, and I'll give the organizers the benefit of the doubt. It's a tournament for charity, after all, and so if rigging the final four is what it takes to get more money for a great cause, then so be it.

But I'm not considering these early games part of the tournament. The 2k Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer, for me, starts next Thursday. This was just an early-season road win for a very good Akron team against a projected top-half SEC club.