No. 6 Bulldogs Head To Iowa State Saturday For SEC/Big 12 Challenge

STARKVILLE, Miss. – No. 6 Mississippi State heads back on the road Saturday, taking its perfect start to the season to Ames, Iowa, for an SEC/Big 12 Challenge contest against Iowa State.

Both teams enter the 1:30 p.m. CT tip unbeaten. Vic Schaefer's Bulldogs moved to 7-0 after defeating Oregon, San Jose State and Hawaii last weekend to claim the Rainbow Wahine Showdown championship.

The Cyclones opened the year with five-straight home wins, giving them 96-straight regular season non-conference victories at Hilton Coliseum.

Saturday's game will be broadcast regionally by Fox Sports. The game will air live on Fox Southeast in addition to Fox Midwest, Fox North, Fox Detroit, Sportstime Ohio, Root Pittsburgh, Root Rocky Mountain (Denver, Salt Lake City, etc), Root Northwest (Seattle, Portland, etc), Fox West, Fox New Orleans, Fox Oklahoma, MASN (Baltimore, Washington D.C.) and Fox Wisconsin Plus.

The game will also be available online via Fox Sports Go.

Fans in the Golden Triangle and surrounding areas can hear the broadcast on WKBB-FM 100.9. Live audio will be available on hailstate.com/plus.

SERIES BREAKDOWN

Saturday's game will be the second meeting with Iowa State. Like this weekend, the first meeting also came in Ames during the 2001-02 season.
The Cyclones won that contest 87-74.

ABOUT THE CYCLONES

Iowa State enters Saturday's contest 5-0 after defeating Arkansas State 105-53 last Sunday.
The Cyclones enter the game sixth in the nation in turnovers per game, averaging 11.0 per game. They are also fourth in free throw percentage at 82.7%.
Seanna Johnson tops Iowa State in scoring and on the boards, claiming 16.2 ppg and 9.6 rpg.
Jadda Buckely scores at a 14.4 clip, while Bridget Carleton and Meredith Burkhall average 12.8 and 10.0 ppg, respectively.

BULLDOG BITES

Mississippi State has won 35 of its last 36 regular-season non-conference games going back to 2014-15. That tally includes 15-straight victories. The only loss came last season at Texas.
This will be MSU's first time competing in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
The Bulldogs won their second tournament of the season and fifth-straight regular-season tournament under Schaefer with last weekend's Rainbow Wahine Showdown championship.
Saturday's game is part of a non-conference slate that sees State travel 17,190 miles before SEC play opens on Jan. 1.
Mississippi State recorded its highest ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this week, coming in at No. 6. The Bulldogs are also No. 6 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, matching the program's highest mark set last January. State has been in the AP poll 40-straight weeks, the ninth-longest active streak in the nation and third-longest among SEC teams, rating behind Kentucky (127) and South Carolina (77).
The Dawgs are eighth in the nation, second in the SEC, with a +8.7 turnover margin. MSU is 19th in the country and third in the SEC, forcing 22.7 turnovers per game.
State is fourth in the nation, tops in the SEC, in 3-point defense, holding teams to 19.1%.
Juniors Victoria Vivians and Morgan William were named to the Naismith Player of the Year Preseason Watch List on Wednesday. Vivians was also tabbed to the Wade Trophy Watch List on Thursday.
Junior Blair Schaefer was nominated to the Allstate Good Works Team on Wednesday.
Vivians moved up to 11th on MSU's career scoring list (1,222). She is 70 points from 10th.
Vivians has started all 77 games of her career, while Dominique Dillingham has started 46-straight games.
Chinwe Okorie moved into a tie for ninth in MSU career field goal percentage (49.7%) after earning Rainbow Wahine Showdown All-Tournament honors last weekend.
William has 325 career assists, putting her six away from ninth in school annals. She is second among active NCAA Division I players in career free-throw percentage (84.7%).
William was named SEC Player of the Week after scoring 23 points against No. 8 Texas.
Dillingham has 193-career steals, nine away from fifth place in MSU records. She also has taken 116 charges in her career, eight this season.

No. 6 Bulldogs Head To Iowa State Saturday For SEC/Big 12 Challenge

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dominique Dillingham

Chinwe Okorie

Blair Schaefer

Victoria Vivians

Morgan William

Mississippi State University Athletics

No. 6 Bulldogs Head To Iowa State Saturday For SEC/Big 12 Challenge

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dominique Dillingham

Chinwe Okorie

Blair Schaefer

Victoria Vivians

Morgan William

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