WBK Preview: at Vanderbilt

Thursday, December 29

Nashville, Tenn.

5:00 PM

Mississippi State

Vanderbilt

December 28, 2022 | Women's Basketball

WATCH LISTEN LIVE STATS Game Notes

By: Kelly Shipp, Assistant Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – SEC Play is finally here, and the Mississippi State women's basketball team will open conference play in Nashville, Tenn., when they battle Vanderbilt. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. C.T.

GAME INFORMATION
Mississippi State (11-2, 0-0 SEC) at Vanderbilt (9-5, 0-0 SEC)
Date: Thursday, Dec. 29 // Time: 5 p.m. C.T.
Location: Nashville, Tenn. (Historic Memorial Gymnasium)
Watch: SEC Network+ (Talent: Andrew Allegretta & Samantha Kincaid)
Listen: MSU Radio Network (Play-By-Play: Jason Crowder)

Numbers To Know
999 • Jessika Carter, who tied a career-high with 29 points against New Mexico in the final non-conference game of the season, enters the SEC opener 1-point shy of becoming the 28th member of the MSU 1,000-point club
1K • JerKaila Jordan scored 17 points against New Mexico, surpassing the 1,000 career point mark. Of her 1,002 career points, 552 have been scored at MSU, and 450 at Tulane
5th • Mississippi State has one of the best defenses in the country. They rank 3rd nationally in FG% defense (31 .3%) & 7th in Blocks per game (6 .2); they ranked 5th in Scoring defense (50 .6) & 11th in steals per game (12 .2).
59% • Entering SEC play, Asianae Johnson leads Mississippi State in the field goal percentage (59%) and 3-point percentage (47%). She has scored the 4thmost points on the team (129) and is averaging 9 .9 points off the bench this season.

Series History
• This will be the 60th all-time meeting between MSU and Vanderbilt and the 25th meeting in Nashville.
• The Commodores lead the all-time series 36-23 and lead 19-5 in games played in Nashville.
• Mississippi State has won the last eight meetings and 9 of the last 10.
• The Bulldogs have won three straight at Vanderbilt dating back to Feb. 25, 2016.
• Last season, the two teams met in Starkville, a game that MSU won 70-63 with just six players.
• MSU and Vanderbilt have opened SEC play five times; this will be the first time that its happened since 2013. State is 1-4 all-time in SEC openers against Vanderbilt and 0-4 when the game is played in Nashville.

Bulldog Takeaways
• Mississippi State has won 7 of its last 10 SEC Openers. The Bulldogs lost last season at South Carolina after the game got moved up with no notice, and State made a day trip to S.C.
• Mississippi State is the only school in the country with women's and men's basketball teams ranked in the top 5 of scoring defense. We are ranked 5th in the NCAA, 2nd in the SEC, allowing just 50.6 points per game. The men are ranked 3rd in the NCAA and 1st in the SEC, allowing just 52.6 points per game.
• The Dawgs enter SEC play on a 6-game winning streak.
• In Tampa, MSU outscored Old Dominion and New Mexico by an average of 32.5 points per game. We beat teams by an average of 28.2 ppg this year.
• State continues to cause havoc on defense, forcing teams into 21.2 turnovers per game. That mark ranks 26th nationally and 3rd in the SEC.
• MSU ranks 11th in steals per game at 12.2. 1st in the SEC.

Jessika Carter named SEC Player of the Week
Carter earned her second career SEC Player of the Week honor on Dec. 28 after a dominating performance at the Sun Coast Challenge in Tampa, Fla. Carter tied her career-high in scoring with 29 points and also set a new career-best in assists with four. She added 10 rebounds to her performance for her sixth double-double of the season and the 24th of her career.

On her way to scoring 29 points, Carter was 14-for-18 from the field and 1-for-1 from the free throw line. Her 14 made field goals against UNM are the most by any SEC player this season. She added two blocked shots to her season total of 36 and has extended her streak of having multiple blocked shots in a game to six straight.

2023 Signing Class
• The early signing period ended on Wednesday, with Mississippi State signing four players for the 2023-24 season. The class was ranked as high as 16th nationally following the signing of Quanirah Cherry-Montague but should climb with the addition of junior college star Meloney Thames.
• Quanirah Cherry-Montague (Atlantic City, N.J.) – rated as a 4-star recruit and the No. 48 player in the nation
• Jasmine Brown (Joliet, Ill.) – rated as a 4-star recruit and the No. 54 player in the nation
• Mjracel Sheppard (Bellevue, Wash.) – rated as a 4-star recruit and the No. 86 player in the nation
• Meloney Thames (Choctaw, Miss.) – Junior College All-American, Second in the nation in scoring (26.3 ppg)

Get-To-Know Vanderbilt
• Vanderbilt enters SEC play with a record of 9-5 and on a three-game winning streak after victories over Louisana Tech, Lipscomb and Alabama A&M.
• They are coached by Shea Ralph in her second season in Nashville.
• Ciaja Harbison leads Vanderbilt, averaging 18.8 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per contest. She also leads the team with 61 assists and is third in steals with 23. Harbison ranks fourth in the SEC in total assists and first in assists per game (5.5), while her 18.8 ppg is the second-best mark in the SEC.
• Also averaging double-digit points are Marnelle Garraud (13.0) and Sacha Washington (10.4).
• Vanderbilt plays a lot of people quality minutes, as nine different players are averaging more than 12 minutes per game.

Digital Program

Up Next
Mississippi State will be back home on Jan. 1 when the Bulldogs welcome in-state rival Ole Miss to Humphrey Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network and will tip-off at 5 p.m.

For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU women's basketball on Twitter, like them on Facebook, and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateWBK."

– HailState.com –