Bulldogs Conclude Regular Season At Home Against South Carolina
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Riding the momentum of back-to-back road wins at Tennessee and Arkansas, Mississippi State returns to the friendly confines of Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday to close out the regular season against South Carolina.
Tip is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be on ESPN2 with Carter Blackburn handling the play-by-play duties and Mark Gottfried serving as the analyst.
It’s also Senior Day, and MSU will bid farewell to Kodi Augustus, Riley Benock, Brandon Bolen and Ravern Johnson.
“It’s always a special day when we recognize our seniors,” 13th-year MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. “It will be an emotional day for them. But at the same time, we’re playing a key basketball game.”
The Bulldogs stand at 16-13 on the year and 8-7 in league play following their 88-78 win at Arkansas on Wednesday. The 88 points were the most an MSU team has ever scored in Fayetteville, while the victory marked the first time in school history MSU has won at Tennessee and Arkansas in the same season.
More importantly, the win secured an opening-round bye at next week’s SEC Tournament in Atlanta
“It was big getting that win,” Benock said. “To know you only have to play three games to win the tournament means a lot.”
Against the Razorbacks, Johnson led all scorers with 25 points as he kept his hot shooting streak intact. In the last five games, he has made 32 of his 53 shots from the floor, while draining 19 of his 30 3-point attempts.
“I gotten a lot of open looks,” Johnson said. “But I’ve been working on my shot too. It feels good that they are falling again.”
South Carolina, which has lost four-straight to MSU, is 14-14 on the year overall and 5-10 in SEC play following its 73-69 setback to Tennessee on Thursday.
The Gamecocks are led by Bruce Ellington’s 13.4 clip followed by Sam Muldrow at 11.0. Muldrow also leads USC in rebounding at 7.0, a stat that ranks 13th in the SEC.
After Saturday, the Bulldogs don’t play again until 9 p.m. on Friday, March 11 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Tip is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be on ESPN2 with Carter Blackburn handling the play-by-play duties and Mark Gottfried serving as the analyst.
It’s also Senior Day, and MSU will bid farewell to Kodi Augustus, Riley Benock, Brandon Bolen and Ravern Johnson.
“It’s always a special day when we recognize our seniors,” 13th-year MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. “It will be an emotional day for them. But at the same time, we’re playing a key basketball game.”
The Bulldogs stand at 16-13 on the year and 8-7 in league play following their 88-78 win at Arkansas on Wednesday. The 88 points were the most an MSU team has ever scored in Fayetteville, while the victory marked the first time in school history MSU has won at Tennessee and Arkansas in the same season.
More importantly, the win secured an opening-round bye at next week’s SEC Tournament in Atlanta
“It was big getting that win,” Benock said. “To know you only have to play three games to win the tournament means a lot.”
Against the Razorbacks, Johnson led all scorers with 25 points as he kept his hot shooting streak intact. In the last five games, he has made 32 of his 53 shots from the floor, while draining 19 of his 30 3-point attempts.
“I gotten a lot of open looks,” Johnson said. “But I’ve been working on my shot too. It feels good that they are falling again.”
South Carolina, which has lost four-straight to MSU, is 14-14 on the year overall and 5-10 in SEC play following its 73-69 setback to Tennessee on Thursday.
The Gamecocks are led by Bruce Ellington’s 13.4 clip followed by Sam Muldrow at 11.0. Muldrow also leads USC in rebounding at 7.0, a stat that ranks 13th in the SEC.
After Saturday, the Bulldogs don’t play again until 9 p.m. on Friday, March 11 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.