Gameday: Five Things To Know MSU-Ole Miss

Saturday, January 22

Starkville

3:00 p.m.

Mississippi State

Ole Miss

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Gameday: Five Things To Know MSU-Ole Miss

January 21, 2022 | Men's Basketball

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STARKVILLE – Mississippi State men's basketball team completes the first third of its SEC schedule with a rematch against in-state rival Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon at Humphrey Coliseum.

The Bulldogs (12-5, 3-2 SEC) has dialed up home wins over Arkansas (81-68 on 12/29), Georgia (88-72 on 01/12) and No. 24 Alabama (78-76 on 01/15) to begin SEC action. State enters the weekend in sole possession of fourth place in the SEC standings.

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

Last time out, Ole Miss (9-8, 1-4 SEC) dropped a 78-53 decision to Missouri on its home floor. The Rebels have dropped both of its road decisions to No. 18 Tennessee (66-60 on 01/05) and Texas A&M (67-51 on 01/11) in SEC play.

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 (12-5, 3-2 SEC) vs. Ole Miss (10-6, 1-3 SEC)
Where: Starkville, Mississippi – Humphrey Coliseum
When: Saturday, January 22, 3:00 p.m. CT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (https://hailst.at/MBKLiveStats)

TV: ESPNU (Watch ESPN App)
Talent: Tom Hart, Carolyn Peck
DirecTV: Ch. 208, Dish: Ch. 141, AT&T U-Verse: Ch. 1605, MaxxSouth: Ch. 1162, C Spire: Ch. 206
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 weekend's action, Mississippi State holds top three marks on the SEC leaderboard in field goal percentage (47.6 – 2nd), rebounding margin (+9.4 – 2nd), offensive rebounding percentage (37.0 – 2nd) 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. 28 in the ESPN BPI, checks in at No. 44 in the KenPom.com ratings and holds the No. 49 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 sixth among SEC teams behind Auburn (111), Kentucky (105), Tennessee (104), LSU (101) and Arkansas (99).

3. Last time out, Mississippi State was unable to close out a NCAA Quad 1 road opportunity as Florida finished the contest on a 27-11 run over the closing 8:57 to turn an eight-point deficit (61-53) into eight-point win (80-72).

The Bulldogs connected on 54.0 percent from the floor and had three players collect double figures. Shakeel Moore amassed a SEC-best 18 points and knocked down a trio of three-pointers. Tolu Smith dialed up 17 points and six rebounds, all during the second half. Iverson Molinar made it 17 straight games to start the season in double figures as he secured 12 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Key stats for the Gators included a 10-for-24 mark from three-point territory and a 24-for-30 clip at the free throw line. Anthony Duruji pumped home 18 of his 22 points in the second half and chipped in five steals.

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 (17.6 – 3rd) and assists (4.5 – 7th).

Molinar also is ranked among the SEC leaders in free throw percentage (87.5 – 2nd), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.53 – 2nd) and field goal percentage (47.9 – 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 Saturday's action 17 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 1st in field goal percentage (63.6), 9th in rebounds (7.0) and 16th in points (13.4). He has a pair of double-doubles over his seven 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 2,987 career points and 138 career games in double figures. Their teams have posted a combined 100-38 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 fifth nationally with 911 career rebounds in addition to sitting fifth among SEC's active players with 1,461 career points. He has pumped in 10-plus points during four of his last seven 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 nine of 14 career games of 10-plus points come this season at MSU. He has registered double figures in five of his last seven games. The North Carolina native provided a SEC's season's best 18 points at Florida (01/19) coupled with a pair of 15-point efforts 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 2.0 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 45.3 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 a huge game for both teams. They're coming off a couple of losses, and we're coming off a tough loss where we thought we could get a road win against a very good team. It's a big game for both programs."

"Tolu gives us a quality big. He's the best low post scorer and defender that we've got. He's also the best rebounder on the team. It's great for us to have him out there. He's instrumental for us moving forward. We've got a lot of games moving forward so we're very glad he's good to go."

"Depth will be very important. I'm going to play Rocket a little more. He'll reach his scheduled amount of minutes at minimum in each half. Look for him to play more minutes for sure. Cameron [Matthews] and [Andersson] Garcia are getting a significant amount of minutes as well. Defensively, we're probably at our best when both of those guys are on the floor. We learned that from watching film. They'll continue to get time on the floor. [Javian Davis] also plays a significant role as the backup five in the rotation."

SERIES HISTORY
The Bulldogs possess a 146-119 all-time series edge over Ole Miss as part of the SEC's most-played basketball rivalry. State will look to claim a split in the series for the fifth consecutive season.

Earlier this season, the Rebels used a 31-point performance from Matthew Murrell coupled with 15 points and 16 rebounds courtesy of Nysier Brooks.

Daeshun Ruffin and Jaemyn Brakefield added 17 and 15 points, respectively, as Ole Miss rode a 50-point opening half en route to the 82-72 victory in Oxford.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
The Rebels have played their last three outings without top scorer Jarkel Joiner (13.6 PPG, 2.8 APG, 1.2 SPG) due to injury. He has provided 10-plus points in 11 of 13 outings on the season.

Ruffin (11.2 PPG, 3.3 APG, 2.4 SPG) have ripped off double figures in three of his last four games. He tallied 18 points, eight assists and four steals during the first meeting with Mississippi State.

Brooks (9.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG) has knocked down 58.4 percent of his field goal attempts and has tucked away a trio of double-doubles this season. His 9.8 rebounds per game in conference games are third in the SEC rankings.

Murrell (9.6 PPG, 1.6 APG), Brakefield (8.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG) and Tye Fagan (7.9 PPG, 3.9 RPG) 2.2 APG) give the Rebels seven players averaging over seven points per contest. Murrell has connected on multiple treys in four of his five SEC outings. Fagan's top two scoring performances were a 23-point outburst at No. 18 Tennessee (01/05) and a 17-point performance versus No. 4 Auburn (01/15).

UP NEXT
Mississippi State will play seven of its next 10 games away from Humphrey Coliseum starting with back-to-back matchups at No. 12 Kentucky on Tuesday and No. 18 Texas Tech on Saturday. Super Tuesday's tipoff in Lexington is set for 8 p.m. CT televised by ESPN and streamed online 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.