Third-Ranked Bulldogs Set For Tough Road Challenge At Texas A&M

Sunday, February 19

College Station, Texas

4:00 PM

Mississippi State

Texas A&M

Third-Ranked Bulldogs Set For Tough Road Challenge At Texas A&M

February 18, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Game Notes (MSU)Game Notes (TAMU)Watch SEC Network Online Live Audio

STARKVILLE, Miss. – A challenging final stretch of the regular season begins Sunday with a tough road tilt at Texas A&M Sunday afternoon.

Tip from Reed Arena is set for 4 p.m., with the contest being carried live on SEC Network. WKBB-FM 100.9 will have the radio call in the Golden Triangle, while WCNA-FM 95.9 will carry the broadcast in Tupelo, Corinth and Oxford.

A live audio stream will be available on www.hailstate.com/plus and the TuneIn app.

Mississippi State head coach Vic Schaefer heads to a place that he called home for many years looking to lead his Bulldogs a step closer to the program's first SEC regular-season championship.

MSU improved to 26-1 overall and claimed its program-best 12^th SEC win with a hard-fought 58-49 win against Georgia in Humphrey Coliseum on Thursday.

That victory secured the Bulldogs a Top 4 seed in the SEC Tournament and a bye until Friday's quarterfinals. With a win on Sunday, State would be guaranteed to finish no lower than second in the league.

Securing a Top 2 finish will be quite the challenge against a Texas A&M squad that sits at 19-7 overall and 9-4 in league play. The Aggies, who have won eight-straight in College Station, had a four-game win streak halted with a 67-63 road setback at LSU on Thursday.

SERIES VS. THE AGGIES

Sunday will be the seventh meeting between Mississippi State and Texas A&M, the second of the season after MSU won 71-61 in Starkville on Jan. 29.
MSU trailed 20-15 after the first quarter but used a 26-9 second to lead 41-29 at the half. The Bulldogs held on to win 71-61 behind 18 points from Victoria Vivians and 10 each from Morgan William and Teaira McCowan.
The Aggies have won all three meetings in College Station.

ABOUT TEXAS A&M

TAMU returns home 19-7 overall and 9-4 in SEC play following a 67-63 road setback at LSU on Thursday. That loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Aggies.
Khaalia Hillsman paced TAMU with 24 points Thursday after tallying 10 points, 15 rebounds in her team's win against Tennessee.
Hillsman averages 17.0 ppg, second on the team behind Danni Williams' 17.5 ppg. Her 8.7 rpg rates second behind Anriel Howard's 10.7 rpg.
Hillsman and Williams are tied for the team scoring lead in SEC games at 16.6 ppg. Hillsman also averages 9.9 rpg.

NEXT UP FOR THE DAWGS

State begins the final week of the regular season on the road as it heads to Kentucky on Thursday.
MSU wraps the slate at home Sunday against Tennessee. Tip is 4 p.m. on ESPN2. That contest will also be Senior Day.

BULLDOG BITES

Mississippi State's win against Georgia gave the Bulldogs their 12th SEC win of the season, a new single-season school record for league wins.
The Bulldogs also set a new program best with their 13-straight win at Humphrey Coliseum. That streak is tied for the 11th-longest active streak in the nation.
MSU collected its 26th win of the year, third-most in program history behind the 2015-16 (28) and 2014-15 (27) squads.
Thursday's win clinched MSU a Top 4 seed in this year's SEC Tournament.
Bulldog head coach Vic Schaefer is now four wins from claiming his 200th as a head coach.
State seniors Ketara Chapel, Dominique Dillingham, Chinwe Okorie and Breanna Richardson are now 103-30 (.774) since 2013-14, the second-most wins in the league in that span.
The Bulldogs are 34-11 (.756) in the SEC since 2014-15, the second-most wins in the league in that time frame. State has won 19 of its last 22 regular-season SEC games.
State earned a program-best No. 3 ranking in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls. It's MSU's 51st-straight week in both polls.
The Dawgs have held three-straight opponents and four of their last five foes below 50 points.
MSU has forced 92 turnovers its last four games, claiming an 95-20 edge in points off those turnovers in that stretch.
State's last four foes have gone a combined 11 of 56 (19.6%) from 3-point range. MSU holds opponents to 24.8% from the arc this season, second-best in the nation.
Thursday was just the fourth game this season that MSU has trailed by more than two possessions. State has led wire-to-wire 11 times.
Victoria Vivians reached double figures for the 21st-straight game with 10 points on Thursday.
Vivians is ninth in the SEC this season at 16.5 ppg. She is seventh in league games with 16.8 ppg.
Last week Vivians was named to the Naismith Trophy Top 30 and the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20.
Ketara Chapel had her best outing of the year with 14 points, seven rebounds against Georgia. She is averaging 6.2 ppg the last five games after tallying 1.9 ppg the first 22 contests.
An SEC personal-best nine-assist outing against Texas A&M sparked a six-game stretch that has seen Morgan William average 6.0 apg. In that stretch she has 36 assists vs. 10 turnovers. Her 3.3 assist/turnover ratio in SEC games tops the league.
William is 14 of her last 15 (93.3%) at the free-throw line. She is fifth in the SEC in FT% in league games (82.2%). She moved into fourth at MSU in career free-throws made with 385.
Sophomore Teaira McCowan is 13 of 19 (68.4%) from the field the last two games. She's averaging 15.5 points and 13.5 rebounds in the wins against Ole Miss and Georgia.