STARKVILLE, Miss. - Having already clinched at least a share of their fourth SEC Western Division title in the last six seasons, the Bulldogs of Mississippi State (19-8, 10-3) look to join the 20-win club by travelling to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators (21-7, 8-5) Saturday afternoon on the UF campus. Tip-off time for the inter-divisional battle is set for 4 p.m. ET at the 12,000-seat Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
The 102nd all-time hardwood meeting between the two teams will be televised regionally by CBS Sports with Tim Brando set to call the play-by-play action and former Duke standout Mike Gminski ready to supply the color analysis. The contest can also be heard on XM Satellite Radio Channel 200 and on SIRIUS Channel 121.
Winners of five of their last six decisions, coach Rick Stansbury’s 19-8 Bulldogs own a three-game lead over Arkansas in the SEC West standings after claiming an 89-78 home victory over Auburn this past Wednesday. Along with having already reached double figures in conference wins for the third time during the Stansbury era, MSU is now bidding to eclipse the 20-win mark for the seventh time in the past decade under Stansbury’s guidance.
Statistically, the Bulldogs enter the weekend continuing to rank second nationally in both field-goal percentage defense (.367) behind Georgetown (.363) and in blocked shots (8.19 bpg) behind Connecticut (8.89 bpg). In addition to needing just two more rejects to establish a new all-time, single-season school record for blocked shots for the second straight season (222 blocks last season), MSU has limited nine of its 13 SEC opponents to less than 40 percent field-goal shooting on the year.
All-SEC standouts Jamont Gordon (17.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg & 4.8 apg) and Charles Rhodes (16.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg & 57% FGs) continue their quest for first-team, all-league recognition as one of the most potent tandems in the conference. The SEC’s third-leading scorer (20.0 ppg) during the month of February, Rhodes is coming off a career-best, 30-point effort against Auburn in which he hit 11-of-14 shots from the field (five dunks) and 7-of-8 from the line. Along with Gordon’s 20 points, the Bulldogs had all five starters score in double figures earlier in the week against the Tigers. On the year, sophomore guards Barry Stewart and Ben Hansbrough are also supplying double-figure scoring at 12.0 and 10.0 points per game, respectively.
With 10 underclassmen featured on this year’s 12-man roster after claiming back-to-back national championships, the revamped Florida Gators are 21-7 overall and 8-5 in league play after posting a 77-64 road win over Georgia on Wednesday. Guided by 12th-year head coach Billy Donovan, UF is led by rookie phenom Nick Calathes (15.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg & 6.1 apg) and sophomore center Marreese Speights (13.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg & 61% FGs). Featuring six players averaging 8.2 points or better on the season, the Gators lead the conference in field-goal percentage (.494) for all games, along with ranking second in scoring margin (+11.9 ppg) and third in both scoring offense (79.1 ppg) and three-point field-goal percentage (.363).
Including a current three-game series winning streak over the Bulldogs, Florida owns a 56-45 all-time series advantage over Mississippi State through the years. The Gators also hold a 12-7 series lead over MSU since the SEC went to divisional play beginning in 1991-92. MState’s most recent road victories over Florida came during the team’s SEC championship season of 2003-04 (79-68) and the club’s 1995-96 Final Four campaign (69-66).
