Bulldogs Bid For Season's First SEC Road Win At West-Leading And No. 25 LSU
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STARKVILLE, Miss. - In their first rematch of the current conferenceseason, the Bulldogs of Mississippi State (12-11, 2-8) head to Baton Rougeto take on the 25th-ranked LSU Tigers (16-7, 8-2) Wednesday evening on theLSU campus. Tip-off for the 189th all-time series meeting between theseintra-divisional rivals is set for 7 p.m. at the Pete Maravich AssemblyCenter.
The contest will be televised live by Jefferson-Pilot Sports and will becarried by UPN Mississippi stations on local cable systems throughout theGolden Triangle regional viewing area (Channel 11 on Starkville's NorthlandCable; Channel 4 on Columbus' Cable One; and Channel 3 on WestPoint/Tupelo's Comcast Cablevision). In addition to being available onWCBI-DT (Channel 35.3), the game can also be heard on SIRIUS Satellite Radio(Channel 107) via LSU's radio broadcast.
Winless in five previous SEC road games this season, coach Rick Stansbury'sBulldogs are 12-11 overall and 2-8 in league play after dropping an 83-61decision at South Carolina this past Saturday. Having lost eight of itslast nine league outings since opening up conference action with a 69-67home triumph over Arkansas back on Jan. 7, MSU recently snapped a seven-gamelosing skid with a 71-53 home victory over Auburn on Feb. 4.
The Bulldogs are powered by the talented tandem of freshman swingman JamontGordon and sophomore forward Charles Rhodes. A three-time SEC Freshman ofthe Week recipient, Gordon tops State in scoring (13.7 ppg; 11th in theSEC), assists (4.2 apg; 8th) and steals (1.2 spg). Averaging a team-leading17.4 points (5th in the SEC) and 9.0 rebounds (3rd) per contest inconference games only, Rhodes has raised his season's scoring (13.0 ppg;15th in the SEC) and rebounding (7.3 rpg; 7th) averages a total of 3.6points and 1.8 boards per game over his last 11 outings. Senior guardJamall Edmondson contributes 13.0 points per contest.
Ranked 25th this week in both national polls, the SEC West-leading LSUTigers are sparked by the potent inside-outside combo of sophomore forwardGlen Davis (17.7 ppg & 9.5 rpg) and senior guard Darrel Mitchell (18.3 ppg &4.7 apg). Davis leads the SEC in rebounding, while Mitchell ranks second inscoring. Guided by ninth-year head coach and former MSU assistant JohnBrady, LSU leads the SEC in rebounding (41.6 rpg) and rebound margin (+10.1rpg). Sporting records of 16-7 overall and 8-2 in league play, the Tigersare 5-0 in SEC home action this year. Freshman forward Tyrus Thomasaverages 12.6 points, 9.1 boards and 3.1 blocked shots per game.
LSU and MSU are ranked first and second, respectively, in the SEC inrebounding offense (41.6 to 39.2 rpg) and rebounding margin (+10.1 to +4.2rpg) for all games on the season. Wednesday in Baton Rouge, the Bulldogswill be looking to snap a nine-game losing streak against Top 25 opponents.This season, State has fallen at Florida and at home against Tennessee,while going winless in seven outings versus nationally ranked foes a yearago. MSU's last win over a ranked opponent came two years ago (Feb. 11,2004) by way of a come-from-behind 79-75 overtime road triumph over22nd-ranked South Carolina.
As part of the "SEC Throwback Week" lineup, Mississippi State returns hometo play host to the Ole Miss Rebels Saturday afternoon in Starkville. Bothteams, as will all of the conference members, will be sporting retro-styleuniforms from previous eras. The new tip-off time for Saturday's State-OleMiss contest will be 2:30 p.m. CT (instead of previously released 2 p.m.)and the game will be televised by ESPN Classic.