Gameday: Five Things To Know MSU-Georgia

by Matt Dunaway, Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State men's basketball team opens a week-long homestand when Georgia visits Humphrey Coliseum on Wednesday evening.

State (10-4, 1-1 SEC) will look to bounce back from an 82-72 loss at Ole Miss during its SEC road opener last Saturday. The Bulldogs have won eight of their nine games inside The Hump this season, most recently an 81- 68 victory over Arkansas.

A balanced scoring effort has been key to Mississippi State's success this season. The Bulldogs have won seven of eight outings in 2021-22 when at least four players register 10-plus points.

Georgia (5-10, 0-2 SEC) has lost four straight which include their first two SEC decisions to Texas A&M (81-79 on 01/04) and at No. 16 Kentucky (92-77 on 01/08). The Bulldogs knocked off then No. 18 Memphis (82-79 on 12/01) during non-conference action.

In accordance with Mississippi State University's indoor mask requirement announced on Jan. 7, all individuals must wear face coverings inside all university buildings, including athletic facilities effective Jan. 10 through Feb. 1. The requirement applies to all fans attending basketball games at Humphrey Coliseum except while actively eating or drinking.

The Matchup: Mississippi State (10-4, 1-1 SEC) vs. Georgia (5-10, 0-2 SEC)
Where: Starkville, Mississippi – Humphrey Coliseum
When: Wednesday, January 12, 6:00 p.m. CT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (https://hailst.at/MBKLiveStats)

TV: SEC Network (Watch ESPN App)
Talent: Roy Philpott, Mark Wise
DirecTV: Ch. 611, Dish: Ch. 404/408, AT&T U-Verse: Ch. 1607, MaxxSouth: Ch. 10266, C Spire: Ch. 220
Online: Watch ESPN App (Cable Subscription Required)
(https://hailst.at/WatchESPN)

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. Entering this week's action, Mississippi State holds top three marks on the SEC leaderboard in free throw percentage (74.1 – 1st), field goal percentage (47.3 – 2nd), rebounding margin (+10.1 – 2nd), three-point field goal percentage (34.5 – 3rd), defensive rebounding percentage (77.5 – 3rd) and offensive rebounding percentage (36.3 – 3rd).

The Bulldogs are joined by Arizona, North Carolina and Oklahoma as the only Power 5 teams to rank inside their respective conferences top 3 in field goal, three-point and free throw percentages.

The +10.1 rebounding margin for State is 9th 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. 26 in the ESPN BPI, checks in at No. 41 in the KenPom.com ratings and holds the No. 45 spot in the NCAA NET rankings. The Bulldogs are scheduled to have a stretch of seven games over a 10-game span from Jan. 15-Feb. 16 versus NCAA Net Quad 1 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.

Howland and his staff piled up three consecutive 20-plus win seasons from 2017-18 to 2019-20 and has totaled 96 victories since the start of 2017-18. The 96 wins are tied for fifth with Arkansas among SEC teams behind Auburn (108), Kentucky (102), Tennessee (102) and LSU (100).

3. Last time out, Mississippi State fell behind by 14 points during the first half. The Bulldogs rallied to get within seven points inside the final four minutes, but Ole Miss closed out the 82-72 decision in Oxford last Saturday.

Three-point shooting proved to be a key stat as the Rebels drained nine of their 11 treys in the first 20 minutes. State misfired on 13 of its 16 attempts for the contest from three-point territory.

Three players tucked away double figures for the Bulldogs headed by 16 points apiece courtesy of Iverson Molinar and Garrison Brooks. Brooks registered 12 of his 16 points in the second half.

D.J. Jeffries chipped in 13 points, while Cameron Matthews nearly came away with his first career double-double with a solid all-around performance of nine points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

4. Iverson Molinar is joined by fellow All-SEC Preseason First-Team pick J.D. Notae (Arkansas) as the only SEC players to score in double figures during every game they've played in this season.

Molinar and Alabama's Jahvon Quinerly are the only SEC players to be ranked among the SEC's top 10 in points (16.8 – 3rd) and assists (4.3 – 9th).

Molinar also is ranked among the SEC leaders in free throw percentage (89.2 – 1st), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.61 – 3rd) and field goal percentage (46.2 – 6th).

Molinar is working his way towards becoming the 41st player in program history and eighth under Coach Howland to reach 1,000 career points at Mississippi State. He enters Wednesday's action 81 points away from the milestone.

Tolu Smith is the SEC's defending rebounding champion and racked up the most double-doubles among SEC players last season. He has missed nine games this season.

If Smith qualified for the SEC leaderboard, he would rank first in field goal percentage (65.9), sixth in rebounds (7.8) and 12th in points (14.2). He has a pair of double-doubles over his five appearances in 2021-22 headed by a 22-point, 11-rebound performance against Richmond (11/27).

5. Mississippi State's transfer class of Garrison Brooks, D.J. Jeffries, Shakeel Moore and Rocket Watts has amassed 2,891 career points and 135 career games in double figures. Their teams have posted a combined 98-37 record when providing 10-plus points headed by Jeffries' 29-6 and Watts' 17-2 marks, respectively.

Brooks holds the top spot among SEC active players with 895 career rebounds and sits fifth among SEC's active players with 1,434 career points. He has pumped in 10-plus points during seven of his last nine outings and matched a season's best with 18 points against Furman (12/17).

Jeffries has upped his marks to 14.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game over his last five outings. He amassed a season-high 19 points versus Winthrop (12/21).

Moore has posted seven of his 12 career games in double figures at MSU this season. He has collected multiple steals on 10 occasions this season and his 2.1 steals per game are fourth in the SEC rankings.

Watts has missed four games due to injury this season and piled up a season-high 15 points versus Lamar (12/02). He returned to the rotation with a 7-point effort during the Arkansas game (12/29).

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – HEAD COACH BEN HOWLAND
"I'm definitely disappointed with how we played. Credit to Ole Miss, they played very well and shot the ball incredibly, especially in the first half. We watched the entire game as a team to try and learn from our mistakes and correct the things we did poorly. I thought we also had a really good practice yesterday. The guys went out and worked hard. It's always good to come back and have a good practice following a disappointing defeat. We have to get back out and have another one of those today ahead of our game against Georgia tomorrow."

"The main thing is how the players perform. Talk is cheap, and performance is everything. I thought we had good energy and played unselfish. Those things and playing hard is what we want out of our guys. We got that yesterday during practice. So, now we've got to build on that and do it again today."

"I've watched Georgia's first two league games. They had the game in hand against Texas A&M. Then, lost at the buzzer. They're a dangerous team offensively. Those guys are a top 25 team when it comes to getting to the foul line. They have some guys who can really shoot. [Noah] Baumann, in particular, has been playing very well as of late. He's averaging 17.5 points over the last four games and is a phenomenal shooter. [Kario] Oquendo is a great athlete He's averaging 21.5 points in the conference and is a really good driver. [Aaron] Cook, a sixth year player who played at Gonzaga last year, is playing very good basketball. He's a very smart and experienced point guard. [Braelen] Bridges is a good scorer as well. They have guys that can put the ball in the basket."

SERIES HISTORY
Four straight wins have enabled Mississippi State to cut the overall series deficit down to 58-57. The Maroon and White have won those four meetings by an average of 14.5 points.

Iverson Molinar poured in 24 points during last season's 83-73 SEC opening victory in Athens. A Mississippi State win on Wednesday would give the Bulldogs a series-best five-game winning streak over UGA.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
Despite falling to Texas A&M (01/04) and Kentucky (01/08), Georgia has shot 50.5 percent from the floor, 40.5 percent on three-pointers and 89.2 percent at the foul line to begin SEC action.

The Bulldogs have three active players averaging in double figures which include Kario Oquendo (12.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 1.1 SPG), Braelen Bridges (12.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG) and Aaron Cook (10.7 PPG, 6.6 APG, 1.6 SPG). Jailyn Ingram (10.7 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.1 APG) is out for the remainder of the season with an injury.

Oquendo has fired in five consecutive games in double figures headed back three 20-plus point efforts on three occasions. He led the way with 22 points at Kentucky and 21 points versus Texas A&M, respectively.

The 6.6 assists per game for Cook is rank among the nation's top five. He has a pair of double-doubles with points and assists, most recently 13 points and 12 assists during the Western Carolina game (12/20).

Noah Baumann (8.2 PPG) has connected for 17 of his team-leading 29 three-pointers over UGA's last four games. He poured in a season's best 25 points aided by seven treys against East Tennessee State (12/22).

UP NEXT
Mississippi State faces its first ranked opponent of the 2021-22 season as No. 24 Alabama visits Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday. Tip time is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT 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 MSU-Georgia

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Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

D.J. Jeffries

Cameron Matthews

Iverson Molinar

Shakeel Moore

Tolu Smith III

Rocket Watts

Mississippi State University Athletics