Five Things To Know MSU-Akron & MSU-Arkansas-Pine Bluff

by Matt Dunaway, Director/Communications

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania – Mississippi State men's basketball program concludes a busy opening week as the Bulldogs take on another 2022 NCAA Tournament foe in Akron as part of the Barstool Invitational at the Wells Fargo Center, home of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, on Friday evening.

Then, the Maroon and White will return home to square off with Arkansas-Pine Bluff for a Sunday matinee at Humphrey Coliseum to complete a three-game sprint over the first seven days of the season.

Mississippi State overcame an early 12-point deficit en route to a 63-44 season-opening rout of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a NCAA Tournament squad from a season ago, on Monday.

The Bulldogs relied on suffocating defense to outscore the Islanders by a 38-14 margin during the second half. State recorded 13 steals, seven blocks and forced the defending Southland Conference Tournament champions into 21 turnovers. All three marks were inside the top 5 for a Chris Jans coached team.

Akron's trio of Xavier Castaneda, Enrique Freeman and Trendon Hankerson did the heavy lifting for the Zips and combined for 63 of the team's 81 points during an one-point opening night at South Dakota State.

Freeman, the reigning 2021-22 MAC Defensive Player of the Year and MAC Tournament MVP, landed among the NCAA's top 20 in six categories and was the nation's leader in field goal percentage (66.5) last season.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff has already taken No. 14 TCU to the buzzer on the road during the young season. Trejon Ware had an opportunity to win the game, but his last second floater hit off the iron. The Lions face off with another Big 12 squad with a Friday night matchup at Oklahoma.

SERIES HISTORY
The Zips have won both previous meetings over State. The first was an 83-72 Akron victory at the San Juan Shootout in 2005-06 followed by a 68-58 decision during the second game of the 2011-12 campaign at Humphrey Coliseum.

Conversely, the Bulldogs have a 2-0 series edge over Arkansas-Pine Bluff by an average 46.0 points per contest. If State defeats the Lions on Sunday, it would mark the program's 500th victory inside Humphrey Coliseum.

The Matchup: Mississippi State (1-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. Akron (1-0, 0-0 MAC)
Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Wells Fargo Center
When: Friday, November 11, ~6:00 p.m. CT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (https://hailst.at/MBKLiveStats)

Stream: Barstool TV
Talent: Jake Marsh, David Portnoy, Dan Katz
Online: Barstool App
(https://www.Barstool.TV/live )

The Matchup: Mississippi State (1-0, 1-0 SEC) vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-1, 0-0 SWAC)
Where: Starkville, Mississippi – Humphrey Coliseum
When: Sunday, November 13, 2:00 p.m. CT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (https://hailst.at/MBKLiveStats)
Fan Gameday Central: (https://hailst.at/BasketballGameday)

Stream: SEC Network+ (ESPN App only)
Talent: Bart Gregory and Charlie Winfield
Online: ESPN App (Cable Subscription Required)
(https://hailst.at/WatchESPN)

Radio: Mississippi State Sports Network – Powered by Learfield
Talent: Jim Ellis, Richard Williams (Akron)
Talent: Neil Price, Richard Williams (Arkansas-Pine Bluff)
Affiliates: WKBB-FM 100.9 Starkville/West Point (Full List: https://hailst.at/MBKAffiliates)
Free Online Audio: Hail State On-Demand (https://hailst.at/MBKListen); The Varsity Network App

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – COACH JANS
"We talked about it a lot in the offseason that we had a very challenging schedule. It looks to be maybe even a little more challenging than we thought in July or August with the early season results. We had a little bit of that adversity on Monday, being down at half in a home opener. We played much better in the second half, but that's just a taste of it. We're going to have way bigger challenges, tougher leads to overcome, et cetera. We haven't faced any major foul issues yet, or anything of that nature. We're not having to play in someone else's barn yet, but we'll have to play away from the friendly confines [of Humphrey Coliseum] for the first time."

"I've got a lot of respect for Akron, they're very well coached. Obviously, [facing] another NCAA Tournament team from last year with a good core group of players back from that team. They're a program that at least right now, doesn't play a lot of guys. They rely on two guys to do the bulk of their scoring. Then, they only play seven or eight guys on normal nights. At least, that's what we've seen thus far or what we've heard."

"We'll have our hands full. They've got two kids, the one out front [Xavier] Castaneda and the big kid around the basket [Enrique] Freeman. They're both very accomplished and established players: Castaneda can shoot it, bounce it and just scores it in a variety of ways. Freeman is just a load. He is so skilled around the basket with the right and the left. He was the [MAC] defensive player of the year last year. It'll be a heck of a matchup for Tolu [Smith] and the rest of our bigs around the basket on Friday night."

"I love going on the road, and I live being with our guys. It's just us, you get to know each other better. We're in a hotel, and we're having meetings. Obviously, it's just us. So, the normal people they'd talk to when practice is over aren't around."

"I just think that relationships are formed at a deeper level when we're around each other like that. We're eating more as a team. We're hanging out more as a squad and we're traveling with one another. I love just seeing where we're at."

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MISSISSIPPI STATE
1. Chris Jans, one of the nation's premier bench bosses, leads State's program. He is assisted by James Miller, David Anwar and George Brooks. His New Mexico State program which Miller and Anwar were apart of became the Western Athletic Conference's (WAC) standard bearer after racking up four regular season championships, three NCAA Tournament appearances and three WAC Tournament titles.

Jans, a three-time WAC Coach of the Year, owns an impressive .766 winning percentage (144-44) in his seventh season as a NCAA Division I head coach. The .766 clip ranks third nationally among active NCAA head coaches which sits only behind Gonzaga's Mark Few (.836) and Kansas' Bill Self (.770).

As a junior college head coach, Jans won the 1997-98 NJCAA Division II National Championship at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He also played a vital role as an assistant coach at Wichita State which was headed by a 2013 NCAA Final Four run, five NCAA Tournament trips and four Missouri Valley Conference regular season crowns.

2. Tolu Smith is one of nine players to capture All-SEC Preseason First-Team accolades. The Bulldogs have had a player secure those honors during four of the last five seasons. Smith is joined by Quinndary Weatherspoon (2018-19), Reggie Perry (2019-20) and Iverson Molinar (2021-22), who each garnered All-SEC Preseason First-Team selections by the conference coaches.

Smith has started 51 of his 52 career appearances in the Maroon and White where he has amassed 694 points, 401 rebounds and connected on 57.7 percent of his field goal attempts. He has piled up 37 career outings in double figures, 14 double-doubles and registered seven of his nine outings of 20-plus points versus SEC competition. For his career, the Bay St. Louis is 194 points shy of reaching the 1,000-point barrier.

Smith finished the 2021-22 campaign on a strong note where he pumped home 19.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest over State's last seven games. He picked up right where he left off with 19 points on a solid 8-for-10 shooting clip and hauled down 11 rebounds versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi during the 2022-23 season opener.

3. In addition to Smith, State's returning group is highlighted by D.J. Jeffries, Cameron Matthews and Shakeel Moore. The quartet combined to average 49.3 percent of the team's points, 48.4 percent of the team's rebounds, 43.9 percent of the team's assists, 52.9 percent of the team's steals and 46.9 percent of the team's blocks over 90 starts last season.

Jeffries heads into the Akron game 209 points shy of 1,000 for his career. He has provided double figures in 42 games where Mississippi State and Memphis has garnered a 32-10 record. Jeffries continues to showcase his versatility with 29 career games of 5+ rebounds, 20 career outings with 3+ assists, 16 career games with multiple steals and 15 career outings with multiple blocks. He notched seven points, five rebounds and two assists against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the opener.

Matthews secured six of his top eight scoring performances in 2021-22. Like Jeffries, his high school teammate from Olive Brach where the duo won a state championship in 2017-18, he's a stat sheet stuffer. Matthews racked up a career-best five blocks coupled with three steals and three steals versus Texas A&M Corpus-Christi in the 2022-23 opening act. For his career, Matthews has piled up 20 games with 2+ steals, 19 outings with 2+ assists and 19 performances of 5+ rebounds.

Moore has collected 13 of his 18 career games with 10-plus points in Maroon and White. Mississippi State and NC State are 14-4 when Moore secures double figures. He has tallied multiple steals in 30 career games and his 54 steals last season were the most by a MSU player since Lamar Peters in 2018-19. Moore turned in 11 points, four rebounds and three steals off the bench during the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi games.

4. The Bulldogs have brought in five talented transfers which include Dashawn Davis (Oregon State), Jamel Horton Jr. (UAlbany), Will McNair Jr. (New Mexico State), Eric Reed Jr. (Southeast Missouri) and Tyler Stevenson (Southern Miss).

Four of the five transfers claimed their first career points in a MSU uniform. Davis and Reed Jr. earned starting nods in the backcourt and paired up for 11 points to go along with six assists versus one turnover.

Davis was the Pac-12's leader in assists with 5.5 dimes per game and a solid 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio with Oregon State. The last Oregon State player to lead the Pac-12 was Gary Payton, a Naismith Hall of Famer and NBA 75th Anniversary Team member. Davis was one of two Pac-12 players to rank inside the league's top 15 in points (12.6 – 13th) along with top 5 marks in assists (6.1 – 1st) and steals (1.4 – 5th) in conference games.

Horton Jr., the 2022 America East Defensive Player of the Year, started 41 games over two seasons at UAlbany. He turned in 32 outings in double figures, 16 outings with 5+ assists and 12 outings with multiple steals. Horton Jr. was one of two America East players to rank among the league's top 11 in points (12.8 – 11th), assists (3.9 – 2nd) and steals (1.1 – 10th).

McNair Jr. improved his stat averages each season under Coach Jans at New Mexico State. He has connected on 55.8 percent of his field goal attempts and started 27 games headlined by both NCAA Tournament games last season.

Reed Jr., a 2022 All-Ohio Valley First-Team and NABC All-District 18 Second-Team pick, earned 51 starts in two seasons at Southeast Missouri. He was the only OVC player to rank among the league's top 10 in points (16.1 – 6th), free throw percentage (81.5 – 3rd) and three-point percentage (36.2 – 10th). Reed Jr. drained multiple triples in 38 games and had 36 games in double figures.

Stevenson registered 74 starts over four seasons where he notched 2021-22 All-Conference USA Honorable Mention and was a Bailey Howell Trophy finalist at Southern Miss. He was one of three USM players to pile up over 1,200 career points and 600-plus rebounds during the 2000s. Stevenson finished 2021-22 a fixture among the C-USA leaders in points (14.5 – 13th), rebounds (7.5 – 5th) and blocks (1.1 – 10th).

5. Mississippi State freshmen class includes redshirt freshman KeShawn Murphy coupled with true freshmen Kimani Hamilton, Martavious Russell and Shawn Jones Jr.

Hamilton and Murphy are ESPN top 100 prospects for their respective classes. Hamilton's father, Tang (1998-99-2000-01), sits among MSU's top 20 in points (1,307 – 20th) and rebounds (677 – Tied for 16th). Jones and Murphy canned three-point buckets for their first career MSU points against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the season opener.

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.

Five Things To Know MSU-Akron & MSU-Arkansas-Pine Bluff

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Players Mentioned

Dashawn Davis

Kimani Hamilton

Jamel Horton Jr.

D.J. Jeffries

Shawn Jones Jr.

Cameron Matthews

Will McNair Jr.

Shakeel Moore

KeShawn Murphy

Eric Reed Jr.

Martavious Russell

Tolu Smith III

Tyler Stevenson

Mississippi State University Athletics