STARKVILLE, Miss. ? Mississippi State senior forward Charles Rhodes has been selected to participate in the 2008 DiGiorno College All-Star Game in San Antonio as part of this week’s NCAA Final Four festivities.
Scheduled to be televised by CSTV and organized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), tip-off time for Friday’s all-star game featuring senior collegiate players is set for 5 p.m. CT at the Alamodome.
Slated to compete for the American All-Stars, guided by former South Carolina head coach Dave Odom, Rhodes looks to be teamed with Georgia’s Sundiata Gaines. Among other senior notables scheduled to play for the American All-Stars are David Padgett of Louisville, Butler’s Mike Green and Brian Butch of Wisconsin. Expected participants on the National All-Stars include SEC standouts Kentucky’s Ramel Bradley and SEC Player of the Year Shan Foster of Vanderbilt, along with Jonathan Wallace of Georgetown, Clemson’s Cliff Hammonds, Duke’s DeMarcus Nelson and Josh Duncan of Xavier. The National All-Stars are set to be guided by Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell.
A first-team all-SEC selection as a senior by a vote of the league’s head coaches, Rhodes ranks sixth in the SEC in scoring (17.4 ppg), fourth in rebounding (7.8 rpg), sixth in field-goal percentage (.562) and tied for 10th in blocks (1.35 bpg) for all games. The three-time all-SEC performer averaged 22.6 points and 9.2 rebounds an outing over his last nine contests this past season, including a career-high 34 points on 10-of-12 field goals and 14-of-18 free throws in the Bulldogs’ first-round NCAA Tournament victory over Oregon at the Little Rock-hosted South Regional.
With six double-doubles over his last 15 games of the 2007-08 campaign, Rhodes is ranked third in the SEC with 10 double-doubles on the season. The 6-foot-8, 245-pound veteran finished with 16 career double-doubles, including a 14-point, 10-rebound effort against second-ranked and Final Four-bound Memphis in the second round of this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Named to the NABC All-District 6 Second Team and chosen as a finalist for the Cellular South Howell Trophy Award for the second time in three years this past season , Rhodes completes his 110-game Mississippi State career ranked 11th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,451 career points and also 11th all-time with 691 career rebounds. The former Jackson Lanier High School product also owns MSU’s all-time standard with 183 career dunks, along with standing seventh on the school’s all-time list with 567 career field goals made and ninth with 307 career free throws made.
