Gameday: Five Things To Know MSU-Florida

Wednesday, January 19

Gainesville, Fla.

5:30 p.m.

Mississippi State

Florida

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Gameday: Five Things To Know MSU-Florida

January 18, 2022 | Men's Basketball

WATCH: MSU at Florida (SECN)WATCH: Coach Howland Presser Notes (PDF)LISTEN: Hall State Plus Live Stats

by Matt Dunaway, Director/Communications

GAINESVILLE, Florida – Mississippi State men's basketball team will look to capture consecutive NCAA NET Quad 1 victories when the Bulldogs travel to Florida at Exactech Arena inside the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on Wednesday evening.

State (12-4, 3-1 SEC) protected its home floor with pair of halftime comeback victories over Georgia (88-72 on 01/12) and No. 24 Alabama (78-76 on 01/15). The last time the Bulldogs wiped away halftime deficits in back-to-back games came at Florida and against Tennessee during the 2019-20 season.

A balanced scoring effort has been key to Mississippi State's success this season. The Bulldogs have posted an 8-1 mark this season when at least four players register 10-plus points. State has accomplished the feat during four of its last six victories.

Last time out, Florida (10-6, 1-3 SEC) returned the win column with a 71-63 road triumph at South Carolina. The Gators picked up a trio of Power 5 nonconference victories over Florida State (71-55 on 11/14), California (80-60 on 11/22) and Ohio State (71-68 on 11/24).

The Matchup: Mississippi State (12-4, 3-1 SEC) vs. Florida (10-6, 1-3 SEC)
Where: Gainesville, Florida – Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center
When: Wednesday, January 19, 5:30 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 field goal percentage (47.3 – 2nd), rebounding margin (+9.4 – 2nd), offensive rebounding percentage (36.9 – 2nd), free throw percentage (74.3 – 3rd) and defensive rebounding percentage (76.0 – 3rd).
The Bulldogs are joined by Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and Oklahoma are the only Power 5 teams to rank inside their respective conferences top 5 in field goal, three-point and free throw percentages.

The +9.4 rebounding margin for State is 8th 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. 23 in the ESPN BPI, checks in at No. 48 in the KenPom.com ratings and holds the No. 48 spot in the NCAA NET rankings. The Bulldogs are in the midst of eight outings over a 10-game stretch against NCAA NET Quad 1 competition from Jan. 15-Feb. 16.

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 98 victories since the start of 2017-18. The 98 wins are tied for fifth with Arkansas among SEC teams behind Auburn (110), Kentucky (104), Tennessee (103) and LSU (101).

3. Last time out, Mississippi State emerged with a 78-76 victory over No. 24 Alabama last Saturday. The seesaw affair featured 15 ties and 19 lead changes.

The Bulldogs had three players tally at least 15 points for the fourth time this season. State is 4-0 when accomplishing the feat. Iverson Molinar dialed up 24 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals to give the Panama native back-to-back games of 20-plus points for the fourth time during his career.

Garrison Brooks provided 16 points and 10 rebounds to tuck away his second double-double of the season, while Shakeel Moore notched 15 points aided by a 9-for-9 effort at the charity stripe. Moore connected on eight critical foul shots inside the last 6:10.

Key stats for the Maroon and White included a 27-13 rebounding advantage during the second half. State also converted 15 Alabama turnovers into 22 points. The Bulldogs also snagged a season's best 18 offensive rebounds en route a 21-16 edge in second-chance points.

Andersson Garcia was State's top performer off the bench with eight points, seven rebounds and two assists. He has upped his marks to 6.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game versus SEC competition.

4. Iverson Molinar, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, 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 coupled with Alabama's Jahvon Quinerly and Kentucky's Ty Ty Washington are ranked among the SEC's top 10 in points (17.9 – 3rd) and assists (4.4 – 7th).

Molinar also is ranked among the SEC leaders in free throw percentage (88.6 – 2nd), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.63 – 2nd) and field goal percentage (47.6 – 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 29 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 returned to the starting lineup against No. 24 Alabama but has missed 10 games this season.

If Smith qualified for the SEC leaderboard, he would rank 2nd in field goal percentage (61.7), 8th in rebounds (7.2) and 20th in points (12.8). He has a pair of double-doubles over his six 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 2,953 career points and 137 career games in double figures. Their teams have posted a combined 100-37 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 and is fourth nationally with 909 career rebounds in addition to sitting fifth among SEC's active players with 1,454 career points. He has pumped in 10-plus points during eight of his last nine 11 outings. Brooks tucked away his second double-double of the season, 16 points and 10 rebounds, versus No. 24 Alabama (01/15).

Mississippi State is 8-1 when Jeffries scores in double figures. He amassed a season's best 19 points against Winthrop (12/21) and his SEC season-high is 13 points at Ole Miss (01/08).

Moore has had eight of 13 career games of 10-plus points come this season at MSU. He has registered double figures in four of his last six games and pumped in 15 points during SEC victories over Arkansas (12/29) and No. 24 Alabama (01/15).

Moore has collected multiple steals on 11 occasions this season and his 2.1 steals per game check in tied for sixth on the SEC leaderboard.

Watts has missed four games due to injury this season and piled up a season-high 15 points versus Lamar (12/02). He has scored 39.6 percent of his points during SEC action headed by a pair of 7-point efforts in SEC wins over Arkansas (12/29) and Georgia (01/12).

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – HEAD COACH BEN HOWLAND
"It's critical, we're on an unbelievable schedule right now. There aren't a lot of teams in the country on as difficult of a schedule as we are. Florida is a [NCAA NET] quad one win opportunity on the road. They're an excellent, NCAA Tournament team. They have wins over Ohio State and Florida State; both of those teams are trending upward and will probably be in the [NCAA] tournament. Their NET ranking is actually higher than ours. After the win against Alabama, we actually went back one spot because Louisville and Richmond are trending backward right now. We control our destiny. So, we've got to play our very best on the road down in Gainesville."

"Iverson has got to be consistent with his effort. He said after the Alabama game that that was the hardest he's ever played in his life. He was exhausted after that game because he was playing so hard on both ends of the floor. He was spearheading our offense, and he also did a phenomenal job defensively against one of the league's premier point guards [Jahvon Quinerly]. I love that stepped up and accepted that challenge because he did a great job for us. I'm very confident he's able to maintain that success down the stretch."

"I thought that was Garrison's best game as a Bulldog. [He had] 16 [points] and 10 [rebounds] against a nationally ranked team is phenomenal without a doubt. He definitely set the tone early with a couple of huge offensive rebound putbacks. He did a great job rebounding the basketball, and we need that out of him. We need that energy and physicality he brought to the game going forward."

"When you have that, it makes you feel so good as a coach. It means they're about winning first and foremost. Everybody wants to play a lot of minutes and have opportunities, but at the end of the day, it comes down to everybody getting recognition and opportunities. It's a long season; some night's you're going to play more than other nights. It's based on how you and your teammates are doing. I love how you mentioned our bench was supportive of one another as they always are."

SERIES HISTORY
Mississippi State has won three straight over the Gators by a tightly-contested average of 4.3 points per contest to slice the overall series deficit down to 65-52. The Bulldogs took a 72-69 home victory as Tolu Smith turned in a career effort with 27 points and 14 rebounds to fuel State.

Last time in Gainesville, the Maroon and White erased a 10-point halftime hole behind a 27-point, 8-rebound performance courtesy of Reggie Perry. Robert Woodard II and Tyson Carter chipped in 16 and 12 points, respectively.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
The Gators have played one of the league's toughest conference slates during the early portion of the schedule falling to a trio of top 15 opponents in No. 15 Alabama (83-70 on 01/05) at No. 9 Auburn (85-73 on 01/08) and versus No. 12 LSU (64-58 on 01/12).

Colin Castleton (15.4 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 2.8 BPG) has posted six double-doubles in 2021-22 and is nearly averaging a double-double for the season. The 15.4 points are seventh, while the 9.1 rebounds, 2.8 blocks and 53.6 percent shooting percentage are second on the SEC leaderboard. Castleton's most recent double-double was 22 points and 10 rebounds at No. 9 Auburn.

Philandrous Fleming Jr. (10.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.3 SPG) has posted 10-plus points in five of his last seven outings. He has done a majority of his damage off the bench but was reinserted into the starting five and scored 14 points at South Carolina (01/15).

Myreon Jones (9.7 PPG, 1.9 APG, 1.6 SPG), Tyrell Appleby (9.1 PPG, 3.6 APG, 1.6 SPG), Anthony Duruji (8.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.0 SPG) and Brandon McKissic (6.4 PPG, 1.4 SPG) give UF six players averaging at least six points per game.

Last time out, Kowacie Reeves (3.8 PPG) poured in a season's best 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting at South Carolina.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State returns home to wrap its annual two-game series with in-state rival, Ole Miss, on Saturday. Tip time is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT televised by either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU 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.