Bulldogs Begin Second Half Of SEC Slate By Hosting Auburn
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STARKVILLE, Miss. - Closing out the only multi-game homestand of their SECslate, the Bulldogs of Mississippi State (11-10, 1-7) begin the second halfof their 16-game, regular-season conference schedule by playing host to theAuburn Tigers (9-9, 1-6) Saturday evening on the MSU campus. Tip-off forthe 124th all-time hardwood meeting between these two intra-divisional foesis set for 6 p.m. CT at Humphrey Coliseum. The game will be televised byFSN South/Sunshine Network and can also be heard on SIRIUS Satellite Radio(Channel 181) via MSU's radio broadcast.
Currently saddled with their longest losing streak since 1986-87, coach RickStansbury's 11-10 Bulldogs are 1-7 in conference play after Wednesday's81-66 home setback to Kentucky extended their losing skid to sevenconsecutive games. Upon opening the SEC slate with a 69-67 home win overArkansas back on Jan. 7, MSU has since fallen by double figures in six ofits last seven outings during the team's current seven-game slide.
Individually, Mississippi State is led in scoring by freshman standoutJamont Gordon, who is averaging 13.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.8 assistsper outing as the team's lone 21-game starter on the season. Coming off hissecond double-double of the year with 21 points and 11 rebounds againstKentucky earlier this week, sophomore forward Charles Rhodes is averaging12.4 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game on the season, including16.9 points on 57-percent shooting and 7.9 boards per league outing throughthe first eight games of SEC play. Senior guard Jamall Edmondson rounds outMSU's double-digit scorers at 13.3 points per outing.
Guided by second-year head coach Jeff Lebo, the Auburn Tigers are 9-9overall and 1-6 in SEC action after dropping an 84-69 road decision to SECWest-leading LSU this past Wednesday. With 56 percent of their team scoringoutput coming from five freshmen this season, the Tigers are led in scoringby rookie guard Rasheem Barrett (11.3 ppg) and senior guard Ronny LeMelle(11.1 ppg). Slated to start four freshmen against the Bulldogs on Saturday,Auburn's lone conference victory to date this season was a 66-65 hometriumph over Georgia last Saturday.
With Mississippi State and Auburn having both entered the season rankedamong the nation's top 15 teams in the fewest percentage of points andrebounds returning from last season, one-half of the SEC's current top-10freshmen scoring leaders will be featured in Saturday's contest inStarkville - Gordon and Reginald Delk of State, as well as Barrett, JoshDollard and Quantez Robertson of Auburn.
In what has been a very streaky series of late, the Bulldogs answeredAuburn's nine-game series winning streak (1997-2001) over MSU with aneight-game series win string of their own that ended with the Tigers' 90-76home win over State a year ago on the Plains. Mississippi State has claimedthe last five MSU-AU meetings in Starkville by an average margin of 24.0points per home win, including last year's series-record 90-53 victory overAuburn and an 89-53 home triumph over the Tigers in 2001-02.