Gameday: Five Things To Know About MSU-Winthrop

by Matt Dunaway, Director/Communications

JACKSON, Mississippi – Mississippi State faces one final test before its holiday break as the Bulldogs visit the capitol city of Jackson to meet Winthrop at Mississippi Coliseum.

The Bulldogs (8-3) have won back-to-back games against the Sun Belt's preseason favorite, a 79-50 rout of Georgia State, followed by a tightly-contested 69-66 victory over Furman who was picked to finish second in the Southern Conference.

Winthrop (6-5) is the Big South Conference preseason favorite. The two programs share one common opponent this season in Furman. The Eagles won an 85-80 decision at home over the Paladins on Dec. 9.

The Mississippi Coliseum is where D.J. Jeffries and Cameron Matthews won the Class 5A state title with Olive Branch High School in 2017-18.

The Matchup: Mississippi State (8-3, 0-0 SEC) vs. Winthrop (6-5, 0-0 Big South)
Where: Jackson, Mississippi – Mississippi Coliseum
When: Tuesday, December 21, 6:00 p.m. CT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (https://hailst.at/MBKLiveStats)

TV: None

Radio: Mississippi State Sports Network – Powered by Learfield IMG College
Talent: Neil Price, 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. Heading into this week's action, Mississippi State holds top three marks on the SEC leaderboard in five categories which include three-point field goal percentage (35.3 – 2nd), free throw percentage (73.8 – 2nd), rebounding margin (+11.3 – 2nd), defensive rebounding percentage (78.7 – 2nd) and field goal percentage (47.2 – 3rd)

The +11.3 rebounding margin also is seventh nationally. The Bulldogs have rated among the nation's top 20 in rebounding margin during each of the last three seasons.

State sits at No. 28 in the ESPN BPI rankings, No. 43 in KenPom.com ratings and holds the No. 47 spot in the NCAA NET. The Bulldogs have 12 remaining contests against quad 1 and quad 2 competition.

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. Last time out, Mississippi State ripped off nine of the last 11 points capped by a 6-0 spurt over the last 1:16 to turn a six-point deficit into a 69-66 comeback victory over Furman last Friday.

The Bulldogs had four players collect double figures headed by Garrison Brooks, who equaled his season-high with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He garnered 14 points in the opening half.

Shakeel Moore connected on a driving layup off glass to give State a 67-66 edge with 47.9 seconds left. He tallied a solid all-around effort with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. The go-ahead bucket was setup by a Cameron Matthews steal.

Iverson Molinar added 14 points and two assists to extend his streak to 11 consecutive games in double figures to start the season.

D.J. Jeffries provided 14 points, four rebounds and two assists. He also was a spark defensively and held Furman's leading scorer Alex Hunter without a bucket down the stretch. Hunter dropped in 17 of his game-leading 30 points in the second half.

The Bulldogs scored 32 of the game's 46 points in the paint and tied a season's best with 12 steals. State also handed out 17 assists on 25 baskets.

4. Iverson Molinar is one of two SEC players to score in double figures during every one of his team's games this season. He is joined by fellow All-SEC Preseason First-Team pick JD Notae (Arkansas).

Molinar is the only SEC player to rank among the league's top 5 in points (16.6 – 5th) and assists (4.5 – Tied for 5th). He is one of four Power 5 players to be ranked among his conferences top five in both categories. The list includes Terrell Brown Jr. (Washington – Pac 12), Mike Miles Jr. (TCU – Big 12) and Alondes Williams (Wake Forest – ACC).

He has pumped home at least 15 points and five assists on five occasions. Molinar's 3.33 assist-to-turnover ratio is second on the SEC leaderboard and 14th in the country. The Panama native also tops the SEC and is ninth nationally with a 93.3 free throw percentage.

5. Mississippi State's transfer class of Garrison Brooks, D.J. Jeffries, Shakeel Moore and Rocket Watts has amassed 2,772 career points and 128 career games in double figures. Their teams have posted a combined 93-35 record when providing 10-plus points headed by Jeffries' 27-5 and Watts' 17-2 marks, respectively.

Brooks holds the top spot among SEC active players with 872 career rebounds and sits sixth among SEC's active players with 1,401 career points. Moore has posted 2.2 steals per game, which checks in tied for second in the SEC rankings.
FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – HEAD COACH BEN HOWLAND
"Winthrop is picked to win their conference again. They're a very talented and well-coached team. I watched their game against Furman, which they won. We obviously have a lot of respect for Furman. They're a very similar team in that they shoot a lot of three-pointers. Their three-point percentage is 39 percent as a team going into our game."

"They have a big, wide-bodied preseason player of the year in DJ Burns. He presents a lot of problems. He's a very good scorer around the basket and is a very good passer. They also have a very good shooter named Patrick Good. He's an excellent three-point shooter reminiscent of Alex Hunter from Furman. Their four, [Cory] Hightower, is shooting 45 percent from three. He presents issues as well. They're a very talented team with a lot of great players. We've got our hands full."

"D.J. [Jeffries] is our best shut down defender because he has both length and quickness. He did a great job against Furman. We put him on [Alex] Hunter with seven minutes to go. After that, he [Hunter] didn't score another point. He was faceguarding a lot of the time and just didn't give anything up. Give DJ a lot of credit for that win because his defense really mattered. If someone ends up going off again, we may see DJ guard him, whether he's a one, two, three or four. He's our best defender we have."

SERIES HISTORY
Winthrop won the only meeting between the two schools on the hardwood during the 2006-07 season. Jamont Gordon provided 21 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals, but the Eagles took a 74-63 decision at Humphrey Coliseum.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
The Eagles have won four of their last six games headed by 82-74 road win over Washington on Nov. 27. Last time out, Winthrop dropped a 63-61 decision at the buzzer to Elon.

D.J. Burns Jr. (16.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.1 APG) is one of three players scoring in double figures for the Eagles. He has pumped in 10-plus points in 10 of 11 games headed by a trio of outings of 20-plus points. Burns tallied 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting at Elon (12/15).

Patrick Good (12.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.2 SPG) and Cory Hightower (11.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.3 SPG) have combined for 11 additional games with double-digit points.

Good canned 11 three-pointers en route to 33 points and seven rebounds at Washington State (11/22). For the season, 76 of his 89 shots are from three-point territory. Hightower tallied his lone double-double of the season, 19 points and 13 rebounds, against Hartford (12/01)

UP NEXT
Mississippi State embarks on its 18-game SEC slate as the Bulldogs take on Arkansas on Wednesday, December 29th at Humphrey Coliseum. Tip time is set for 8 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by the SEC Network and streamed online courtesy of the Watch ESPN app.

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-Winthrop

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Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Iverson Molinar

Shakeel Moore

Rocket Watts

Mississippi State University Athletics