MSU's Austin And Zimmerman Named To AP All-SEC Hoops Team
May 25, 2016 | Men's Basketball
The current SEC Player of the Week, Austin enters this week's SEC Tournament ranked ninth in the league in scoring (16.2 ppg) and fifth in rebounding (7.7 rpg), along with leading the conference in field-goal percentage (58.4%). Having also been named to this year's Coaches' All-SEC Second Team, the 6-9, 265-pound center becomes Mississippi State's first underclassman to garner either first- or second-team all-SEC honors since current Golden State Warriors center Erick Dampier earned first-team all league plaudits as a sophomore in 1994-95. A native of York, Ala., Austin also presently rates as the school's highest scoring sophomore player since Darryl Wilson averaged 16.2 points per contest during the 1993-94 campaign.
Zimmerman, a junior point guard from Monroe, La., currently leads the SEC in assists (6.2 apg) and ranks second in steals (2.2 spg), while also averaging 9.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per outing. In addition, the 6-2, 190-pound playmaker tops the Bulldogs with 25 blocked shots and 21 dunks on the year. Standing third and fifth, respectively, on the school's all-time single-season charts with 67 steals and 186 assists during the present campaign, Zimmerman ranks tied for fifth on MSU's all-time list with 139 career steals and eighth with 318 career assists.
This season marks the first time that Mississippi State has had two players garner all-SEC honors in the same year since Horatio Webster and Tyrone Washington earned the distinction during the 1997-98 season.
Owners of a league-best, five-game winning streak, coach Rick Stansbury's 23-7 Bulldogs enter this week's SEC Tournament as the No. 2 seed from the league's Western Division. After posting a 10-6 SEC mark during the regular season and receiving an opening-round bye, MSU will take on the winner of Thursday's Florida-Auburn first round contest during quarterfinal-round action Friday evening in Atlanta. Tip-off for State's initial SEC Tournament appearance is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET at the Georgia Dome. Again this year, the first-round games along with the tournament quarterfinals and semifinals will be televised by Jefferson-Pilot Sports.
