Gameday: Five Things To Know About MSU-Louisville

by Matt Dunaway, Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State makes its first road trip of the 2021-22 season when the Bulldogs travel to the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship over Thanksgiving weekend.

State (4-0) faces Louisville (3-1) from the ACC with an 8:30 p.m. CT tipoff on Thanksgiving night followed by a matchup with either Maryland (3-1) or Richmond (3-2) on Saturday morning.

The Maroon and White are receiving votes in the Associated Press top 25 poll for the third straight week and head into Thursday's action as one of six remaining unbeaten teams in the SEC.

State will be looking for the program's first nonconference multi-team tournament title going back to the 2011 2K Sports Classic in New York City where the Bulldogs beat No. 19 Texas A&M (69-60) and No. 15 Arizona (67-57).

The Matchup: Mississippi State (4-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. Louisville (3-1, 0-0 ACC)
Where: Nassau, Bahamas – Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship
When: Thursday, November 25, 8:30 p.m. CT
Championship: Saturday, November 27, 9:00 a.m. CT
3rd Place Game: Saturday, November 27, 11:30 a.m. CT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (https://hailst.at/MBKLiveStats)

TV: CBS Sports Network Cable Channel
Talent: Kevin Fitzgerald, Debbie Antonelli, Sam Hyman
Online: www.CBSSports.com/CBS-Sports-Network (Cable Subscription Required)

Radio: Mississippi State Sports Network – Powered by Learfield IMG College
Talent: Bart Gregory, Richard Williams
Affiliates: WKBB-FM 100.9 Starkville/West Point (Full List: https://hailst.at/MBKAffiliates)
Free Online Audio: Hail State Plus (https://hailst.at/MBKListen); The Varsity Network App

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MISSISSIPPI STATE
1. Mississippi State headlines the SEC in offensive field goal percentage (52.0) and three-point field goal percentage (45.7) through its first four games. The Bulldogs also check in among the SEC's top three in field goal percentage defense (34.2 – 2nd), scoring defense (52.0 – 2nd), scoring margin (+24.0 – 2nd), rebounding defense (27.3 – 2nd) and rebounding margin (+13.3 – 3rd).

2. Mississippi State's coaching staff led by Ben Howland along with assistant coaches George Brooks, Korey McCray and Ernie Zeigler are in their seventh season together in Starkville during the 2021-22 season. The Bulldogs coaching quartet is second-longest tenured group at the Power 5 level only behind the West Virginia staff who is entering its 10th season under Bob Huggins.

3. The Bulldogs moved to 4-0 with a 66-46 win over Morehead State last Sunday. State pieced together 13 consecutive to turn a 28-24 deficit late in the first half into a 37-28 advantage during the early moments of the second half.

Iverson Molinar, one of two players to rank among the SEC's top 10 in points and assists, filled the stats sheet with 15 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. He has provided 15+ points and five-plus assists in three of his four outings this season. The Bulldogs are 25-10 over the last three seasons when Molinar reaches double figures.

D.J. Jeffries registered his first career double-double in Maroon and White with 13 points and 10 rebounds. His teams have won 24 of its 29 games when Jeffries comes away with 10-plus points.

Shakeel Moore notched 13 points and a career-best five steals. He has provided double figures three times which has resulted in three of his top six scoring efforts of his career on the young season. Moore's 3.0 steals per game are tied for second on the SEC leaderboard.

Garrison Brooks notched 11 points to give State a quartet of players with double-digit points. He has piled up 45 of his 62 career games with 10-plus points over the last three seasons.

4. Derek Fountain, Cameron Matthews and Andersson Garcia are looking to build off their solid freshmen campaigns.

Both Matthews and Garcia have made already made an instant impact in a variety of facets. Matthews scored 11 points against Montana, grabbed 14 rebounds versus North Alabama and added four assists with four steals against Detroit Mercy.

Garcia has already nearly surpassed his 2020-21 points total in three games. Last time out, he fired in eight points on 4-of-5 shooting versus Morehead State.

Mississippi State's freshmen class is led by Cam Carter. He scored 11 points on a flawless 4-of-4 from the floor against North Alabama and followed that up with seven assists against zero turnovers during the Montana game.

5. Mississippi State is on the verge of welcoming Tolu Smith into the rotation. He was the SEC's leading rebounder and paced the conference in double-doubles last season.

Rocket Watts has been eased back into the rotation over the last two games. State's four impact transfers of Brooks, Jeffries, Moore and Watts have amassed 2,536 career points.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – HEAD COACH BEN HOWLAND
"Louisville has a lot of depth on their team starting with Noah Locke who we're familiar with having played at Florida. He's an excellent shooter, one of the best shooters from his time in the SEC, and has hit 212 career three's. He's their leading scorer and a real problem. He really spaces the floor for them well."

"They also have good transfer guard who played four years at Marshall in [Jarrod] West. He was 11th and 12th respectively in the country last year in steals and assists and was on the Conference USA All-Defense Team. I like his game a lot. Up front, they have Malik Williams, who is averaging 9.3 rebounds per game. He's long and athletic. They can defend and have held their first four opponents to 38 percent."
"The level of competition goes way up with Louisville, Maryland and Richmond. I believe all three of those teams will be in the NCAA Tournament. Each team is talented and well-coached. That's the reason we wanted to get into this tournament. I'm excited about our team thus far, number one how we've defended and on the backboards. I think we're sharing the ball really well. You look at our overall field goal percentage and our three-point percentage, is good. We have to do a better job with our foul shooting."

SERIES HISTORY
Louisville holds a 3-2 edge in a series which dates back to the 1950-51 season. The lone meeting during the 2000s came between the two teams came during the 2018 NIT Quarterfinals, a 79-56 rout for the Bulldogs at the KFC Yum! Center.

Quinndary Weatherspoon provided a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds followed by Aric Holman's 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
Louisville has captured victories over Southern (72-60), Navy (77-60) and Detroit Mercy (73-67) with its lone setback coming in overtime to MSU future opponent Furman (80-72).

The Cardinals were predicted to finish sixth in the ACC preseason poll and one of four programs in the nation to win at least 20 games during 18 of the last 19 season. The prestigious list includes Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas.

Noah Locke (16.0 PPG), a transfer from Florida, is the only player to reach double figures in all four games for Louisville. He scored a season's best 20 points versus Furman and enters Thursday's action three points shy of reaching 1,000 for his career.

Malik Williams (6.8 PPG, 9.3 RPG) is a preseason All-ACC pick and nearly tucked away his first double-double of the season with 11 points and nine rebounds against Detroit Mercy last time out.

UP NEXT
After a pair of games in the Bahamas, the Bulldogs return home for matchups with Lamar (Dec. 2 – 7 p.m. CT) and Minnesota (Dec. 5 – 1 p.m. CT) at Humphrey Coliseum.

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.

Gameday: Five Things To Know About MSU-Louisville

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Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

Cam Carter

Derek Fountain

Andersson Garcia

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Iverson Molinar

Shakeel Moore

Tolu Smith III

Rocket Watts

Mississippi State University Athletics