Gameday: Five Things to Know about MSU-Dayton

Saturday, December 12

Atlanta, Ga.

2:00 PM

Mississippi State

Dayton

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Gameday: Five Things to Know about MSU-Dayton

December 11, 2020 | Men's Basketball

WATCH: ESPNU Game Notes (PDF)Listen Live Live Stats

by Matt Dunaway, Associate Director/Communications

ATLANTA, Georgia – Mississippi State will carry a three-game winning streak into Saturday's neutral site matchup with Dayton at State Farm Arena, home of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

Tip time and television coverage has been adjusted to 2 p.m. CT on ESPNU and available online courtesy of the Watch ESPN app which gives the Bulldogs more national exposure on the ESPN Family of Networks.

Mississippi State (3-2) protected its home court with victories over a pair of 20-win squads from a season ago in Texas State (68-51 on 11/30) and North Texas (69-63 on 12/04) coupled with a most recent rout of Jackson State (82-59 on 12/08).

Last time out, State used a familiar formula with four players in double figures for the third time in its first five games against Jackson State.

Iverson Molinar matched a career-high with 21 points ignited by a career-best five treys. Tolu Smith tacked on 14 of his 19 points after halftime and hauled down a career-high 12 rebounds en route to his second double-double on the young season. Javian Davis chipped in a season's best 11 points, while D.J. Stewart Jr. extended his run to five straight games with 11 points of his own.

MSU-DAYTON HARDWOOD SERIES
Saturday's matchup is the fourth meeting between Mississippi State and Dayton. The Bulldogs have won the previous three outings highlighted by a home-and-home series during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. The three tightly-contested games were decided by an average 3.7 points.

State emerged with a 65-58 victory in-front of a sold out crowd at Dayton on 11/30/2018. The Bulldogs overcome a seven-point deficit fueled by a 21-7 run over the games last six minutes. Quinndary Weatherspoon fueled the Maroon and White with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Nick Weatherspoon buried a pair of clutch three-pointers, the later coming with 28 seconds left to put MSU up six.

The Matchup: Mississippi State (3-2, 0-0 SEC) vs. Dayton (2-1, 0-0 Atlantic 10)
Where: Atlanta, Georgia – State Farm Arena
When: Saturday, December 12, 2:00 p.m. CT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (https://hailst.at/MBKLiveStats)
TV: ESPNU
Talent: Kevin Fitzgerald, Mark Wise
DirecTV: Ch. 208, Dish: Ch. 141, AT&T U-Verse: Ch. 1605, MaxxSouth: Ch. 1162, C Spire: Ch. 206
Online: Watch ESPN app & Watch ESPN online (Cable Subscription Required)
(https://hailst.at/UDvsMSU121220)

Radio: Mississippi State Sports Network – Powered by Learfield IMG College
Talent: Neil Price
Affiliates: WKBB-FM 100.9 Starkville/West Point (Full List: https://hailst.at/MBKAffiliates)
Free Online Audio: Hail State Plus (https://hailst.at/MBKListen); Tune-In Radio App (https://hailst.at/MBKTuneIn)
Sirius/XM: Ch. 390 (XM), Ch. 980 (Internet)

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MISSISSIPPI STATE
1. Mississippi State has piled up three consecutive 20-plus win seasons and 71 total victories since the start of 2017-18. The 71 wins are the fourth-highest total in the SEC and only trail Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee since 2017-18.

Mississippi State's coaching staff led by Ben Howland along with assistant coaches George Brooks, Korey McCray and Ernie Zeigler, who are in their sixth season together in Starkville during the 2020-21 season. The Bulldogs coaching quartet of head coach and three assistants is one of eight staffs in the country to remain together at the same school for the last six seasons. The other staffs include Michigan State (11th) led by Tom Izzo, West Virginia (9th) led by Bob Huggins, UAlbany (9th) led by Will Brown, Kansas (7th) led by Bill Self, Oregon (7th) led by Dana Altman, Vermont (7th) led by John Becker and Bradley (6th) led by Brian Wardle.

Most recently, Howland collected his 500th career victory during a 68-51 win over Texas State (11/30) and secured his 100th win at Mississippi State as part of 69-63 victory over North Texas (12/04).

2. Iverson Molinar, Tolu Smith and D.J. Stewart Jr. are ready to etch their names among the notable freshmen-to-sophomore jumps at Mississippi State under Ben Howland.

Stewart Jr. (16.4 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.0 APG) has three of his top six scoring performances during the young season and is one of only eight players in program history to score at least 20-plus points as a freshmen or sophomore in two of his first three games of a season since 1956-57. The last freshmen or sophomore to accomplish the feat was his former teammate, Quinndary Weatherspoon, in 2016-17. Stewart Jr.'s 16.4 points per game are seventh on the SEC leaderboard.

Smith (15.0 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 1.2 BPG) has joined Stewart Jr. in double figures during each of MSU's first five games. Prior to MSU, his previous career-high was nine points against West Virginia (11/16/2018) while at Western Kentucky. The Bay St. Louis product has scored 22 of his 31 points over the last two games during the second half. Smith is one of three players, Georgia's Sahvir Wheeler and Texas A&M's Emanuel Miller, to corral multiple double-doubles on the season. His 8.4 rebounds are sixth, while his 15.0 points are 12th among the SEC leaders.

Molinar (18.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.0 SPG) has made an instant impact on the Maroon and White. He is an effective and efficient 13-of-21 shooting and drained 6-of-9 from three-point territory over his first two games. Last time out, he matched a career-best 21 points against Jackson State (12/08) to go along with five rebounds and four assists. The Bulldogs have won all seven games during Molinar's career when he reaches double figures.

3. Abdul Ado (6.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.8 BPG), the SEC's active leader in blocks and rebounds, is scheduled to make his 103rd career start during Saturday's contest versus Dayton. The 103 starts is good enough for sole possession of sixth place going back to the 1986-87 season. Not only is Ado the SEC's active leader in rebounds and blocks, he ranks fourth overall among NCAA active players in blocks and 11th among active Power 5 players.

Ado has ranked among the SEC's top 10 in blocks shots during all four seasons and his 1.8 blocks per game are fifth this season. Overall, Ado has piled up 191 career blocks, which ranks fifth in program history. His 1.86 career blocks per game is third in program history only behind NCAA all-time leader Jarvis Varnado and Erick Dampier. The Nigeria native enters Saturday's action with Dayton five blocks shy of passing former teammate Aric Holman (2016-17-18-19) for fourth place.

Ado is the leader on Mississippi State's all-time field goal percentage heading into the Dayton game among players with at least 240 baskets made. His 60.6 career shooting clip also checks in tied for third among active Power 5 players and is tied fourth-highest overall among the NCAA active players.

4. Mississippi State's roster features a talented group of newcomers. The freshmen class is ignited by Deivon Smith (4.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.2 APG) and Cameron Matthews (2.4 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.4 SPG), who became the first freshmen tandem to start the season opener since Tyson Carter and Mario Kegler during the 2016-17 season.

Smith, the eighth ESPN top 100 signee to play with the Bulldogs under head coach Ben Howland, tallied a solid all-around effort with 10 points, five assists and two steals during the Liberty game (11/26). Over his last three outings, Matthews has dished out 10 assists against four turnovers.

MSU's freshmen class also features Keondre Montgomery and Derek Fountain, who coupled with Matthews are the state of Mississippi's top three prospects for the Class of 2020. Montgomery and Fountain sank their first career baskets against Texas State (11/30) and Jackson State (12/08), respectively.

5. Mississippi State's top three performers off the bench have been Jalen Johnson (6.2 PPG, 3.0 RPG), Javian Davis (4.6 PPG, 5.0 RPG) and Quinten Post (3.3 PPG, 2.3 RPG) in 2020-21.

Johnson piled up 1,061 points and 495 rebounds between his three seasons at Saint Louis and Louisiana-Lafayette. He has collected 51 career outings of 10-plus points and 11 outings of 20-plus points. Johnson provided a season-high 10 points versus North Texas (12/04) and has tallied at least five points in all five games.

Post put forth his best all-around effort during his first extended action in the Maroon and White. He pumped in career-highs with nine points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks during the Texas State game (11/30).

Davis posted 6.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game over his 31 appearances as a redshirt freshmen at Alabama in 2019-20. His top Bama performance was a 20-point, 10-rebound effort against South Carolina (02/29/2020). Davis has upped his marks to 6.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game over his last three outings sparked by a season's best 11 points versus Jackson State (12/08)

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
HEAD COACH BEN HOWLAND
"First of all, they are really good. There's probably no other team in the country that probably suffered the most from last year's end of the season than Dayton. They had an incredible year going 29-2. They were headed towards the number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Obi Toppin was an unbelievable player. He was recruited actually by one my former players at the University of Pittsburgh, Ricardo Greer … Obviously, we know that Anthony Grant is an outstanding coach. He's done a great job throughout his career with Billy Donovan as an assistant at Florida and was the head coach at VCU. I actually coached against him once when I was at UCLA in the NCAA Tournament."

"We played Dayton twice over the last three seasons, Quinndary Weatherspoon's junior and senior years. We were fortunate to win both of those games. We won the one here at home in the last few seconds, and it was another tight game on the road that we won."

"I think Iverson has grown in every facet. Number one, he's a much better shooter. His understanding of the game has improved so much, and now he's added that to his game. He knows how to get in the paint and jump stop. He understands the defense so much better. He's so much better defensively than he was a year ago. It's night and day. He's just so much more confident. Every pass; he's a better ball handler. He's better in every way. The way he's playing now, it's like he started every game last year."

"When you get double-teamed, you pass out of it. We would love for Tolu [Smith] to get double-teamed every time because that means somebody is open. One of the things he has to do is get more paint touches when he can, but Tolu is doing great. He's had career-high in multiple points and rebounds in our last game. He's almost like a freshman. He's got to get better, still, at understanding the ball screen defense. That's where Abdul [Ado] is so great because he's so good at our ball screen defense. We want every one of them to be as good at it as he is."

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
Dayton has been in a trio of nick-and-tuck affairs to begin the 2020-21 campaign. The Flyers edged Eastern Illinois (66-63 on 12/01) and Northern Kentucky (66-60 on 12/08) at home sandwiched between a setback at SMU (66-64 on 12/05).
Led by reigning national coach of the Year, Anthony Grant, Dayton piled up a 29-2 record and finished ranked No. 3 in the nation. One of the Flyers assistant coaches, Ricardo Greer, was a two-time All-BIG EAST performer under Ben Howland at Pittsburgh during the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons.

Dayton relies heavily on its starting five who have scored 184 of the team's 196 points on the season. Three players are posting double figures headed by Ibi Watson (19.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG), Chase Johnson (14.7 PPG, 6.7 PPG) and Jalen Crutcher (13.3 PPG, 7.0 APG). Jordy Tshimanga (7.3 PPG, 9.3 RPG) and Rodney Chapman (6.7, 3.3 APG) are solid contributors.

Watson has nearly doubled his scoring average from last season and pumped home 23 points during the SMU game. Johnson corralled a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, whereas Crutcher filled the box score with 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds versus Northern Kentucky last time out.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State concludes the December portion of its non-conference schedule with a pair of home games versus Central Arkansas (12/16) and Mississippi Valley State (12/21). Tip times for both contests is slated for 7 p.m. CT from Humphrey Coliseum. The UCA game will be carried online only by SEC Network+ via the Watch ESPN app, while the Valley game will be televised by SEC Network.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by searching 'HailStateMBK' on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.