Rhodes, Slater Lead State Past Georgia 83-68
* Post-Game Quotes
* Post-Game Notes
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) - Charles Rhodes had a career-high 27 points and Mississippi State dominated the second half of its 83-68 victory over Georgia on Saturday night.
Dietrich Slater added a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds for Mississippi State (14-13, 4-10 Southeastern Conference), which scored the first 16 points of the second half, outscored Georgia 51-31 in the final 20 minutes and led by as many as 18.
Freshmen Jamont Gordon and Richard Delk had 13 points apiece, Gordon added 12 rebounds and Mississippi State shot better than 58 percent and outrebounded the visiting Bulldogs 48-31.
Georgia (15-12, 5-9) led by as many as 13 in the first half, taking a 29-16 led with 7:32 left on a 3-pointer by Channing Toney. Mississippi State rallied and closed to 37-32 at halftime.
State then opened the half with a 16-0 run over the first 6 1/2 minutes to take an 11-point lead.
During the spurt, Gordon and Delk had back-to-back 3-pointers, while Slater scored seven points and capped the spurt with a free throw with 13:47 to play to make it 48-37.
Georgia's first basket of the half, a layup by Steve Newman, came with 13:36 remaining.
Mississippi State took its largest lead, 80-62, on a free throw by Slater with 1:46 remaining, and beat Georgia by double figures for the fourth straight time.
Rhodes surpassed his previous career-high of 24 points, set in December against Jacksonville State and equalled last month at Mississippi. Slater's previous best of 20 points came in the season opener against Chattanooga.
Levi Stukes led Georgia with 17 points, and Sundiata Gaines and Toney had 11 apiece.
Georgia has lost four of five.
Mississippi State played without its starting point guard. Jamall Edmondson missed the game with pneumonia, coach Rick Stansbury said, and was not at Humphrey Coliseum. He was replaced in the lineup by Delk.
Mississippi State Head Coach Rick Stansbury
Opening Comments:
I'm proud of the win because of the effort. We took probably the best defensive team in the league in Georgia, a team that prides itself in being physical and tough. For the first 20 minutes, they were the most physical team on the floor. We had plenty of opportunities to fold in the first half. We rallied to cut it (the lead) to five at halftime. I thought our kids came out in the second half and played with that other level of energy and toughness. The first stat that you have to look at is that we out-rebounded them 48-31 and we shot almost 60 percent from the field. The thing that sticks out to me in the stats is Jamont Gordon gets 12 rebounds, Dietric Slater gets 10 and Richard Delk gets eight. That's where it started with us ?€“ our ability to defend and rebound. I thought we did a good job handling the 1-3-1 trap.
I have a lot of pride in what Georgia does, the way they play and how coach Felton coaches the team.
On overcoming a halftime deficit:
It is much easier, at home, to be able to find that poise that you have to play with. On the road, it has to be something from within to keep that composure and toughness. At home, you have a much better chance of recovering from a deficit. I thought we shared the basketball in transition. Richard Delk gave us a lot out there doing a lot of different things. He had another level of quickness tonight that I have not seen from him and that was huge.
On the 1-3-1 halfcourt trap:
That 1-3-1 can easily make you settle for three-point shots, but the thing we did so well was that we were able to penetrate, get inside of it and get some lay ups for Charles Rhodes.
On the second half spark:
It's always good when you come out of the locker room and score a three-point play when you are down five. We jumped out on a 16-0 run, but I thought it was our ability to defend too. We turned it up a notch defensively in the second half.
On Dietric Slater:
It starts at the defensive end, when he is active defensively ?€“ so much more happens for him on offense. I think that is three games in a row that he has had a double-double.
MSU Player Quotes
Charles Rhodes
On kissing the floor at the end of the game:
This is what I said, I thought I was going to hit 30 and so I told coach if I ever got my career high at the Hump I would kiss the floor, so I got my career high and I kissed the floor.
On scoring 27 and being able to get another career high:
Yes. It will be real easy (laugh).
On if any one play in the second half that sparked the team:
I think we matched their toughness because Georgia is a good defensive team. All the big guys were tough and wearing me down, but our team reacted and helped me out a lot and that's why we came away with a win.
On seeing Richard's (Delk) play rise over the past few weeks:
It has. I think with Jamall out, he has really stepped up his game. I hope it continues because that was good effort tonight.
On playing well even though Georgia had several big guys:
Toughness was key.
On being able to play both halves against Arkansas well:
That is going to be a tough game because we have beaten them the last 5 or 6 times. It is senior night and they are at home, so it is going to be tough. It is going to be crazy at Arkansas, so we have to play tough and bring our A-game.
On if the pressure is on him to win the next game:
I'm pretty sure Arkansas is going to double me because of what I did the first game. My team is just going to have to react and play team ball. If we can play like that, we can win.
Dietric Slater
On the game and his career high:
I kind of wanted that. I felt like we proved our point. I didn't want to come out of the game.
On trying to become the team leader in double-doubles:
I just want to play better.
Richard Delk
On having a career night and his versatility:
I think I can rebound the ball, play point, and the three man. I am taller than Reginald and Jamont, so I think I can do a little more on the boards.
On the game:
It was a good game. We played with confidence and just have to come out and do it again.
Georgia coach Dennis Felton
On the difference between the first and second halves:
51 points and 31 points. That was the big difference. It's going to be hard to beat somebody when you are giving up 51 points in a half. A couple of reasons why - they got some momentum going and their crowd really got into it. I thought that really inspired them and kept them excited and the foul trouble hurt us. We already knew we had our hands full with (Charles) Rhodes. I think Rhodes is the best low-post power player in the conference at everything in terms of scoring, rebounding and blocking shots. He was our biggest concern along with (Jamont) Gordon. And with the foul trouble, David (Bliss) got to only play five minutes, Younes (Idrissi) only got to play 11 minutes and that compounded our problems with trying to match up with a guy like Rhodes. We are struggling with rebounding and we continued to struggle tonight. I thought that was the single most biggest thing that beat us was the rebounding discrepancy.
On giving up at the end:
When the lead got up to about 10-or-12 with a little under four minutes to go, our post players weren't doing a very good job of being productive when we were going into them. At that point, in looking at the time and the deficit, I decided to go with all guards and just try to run around to stir things up to have the opportunity to get some threes. The byproduct of that is we did stir things up and we did turn them over a significant number of times, but also when you are running around and taking those kinds of risks you open up opportunities, too. The byproduct of that was them getting behind us a little bit with big athletic guys who they could get it up to over our pressing and have a chance to make those kinds of plays. At that point, we didn't have much of a choice - it's a matter of trying to give your team every chance to win and we were in a pretty desperate state at that time considering the time and score. I didn't think it was a matter of giving up, it was a matter of taking risks to eat into that deficit in a short amount of time and it opened up some opportunities for them.
On importance of postseason play:
I don't get hung up on any one game so much. It's just the total body of work and our record of success over the season. We're fighting to get to the postseason. It would be a special achievement for this team to get to the postseason and we are just doing everything we can to take advantage of every opportunity we have and that's every game.
On shooting percentages:
I think Mississippi State's defense, especially in the second half, was as good as I have seen it from all the tape I've watched. I felt they were playing really hard and really aggressively especially when they got some momentum going and the crowd got into it. I thought their defense had something to do with it.
* With today's win, MSU is now 10-5 at home this season (4-3 in SEC homegames) to mark the eighth consecutive season that the Bulldogs have reacheddouble-figure home wins under the guidance of eighth-year head coach RickStansbury.
* Mississippi State is now 93-22 (.809) at Humphrey Coliseum and 46-17(.730) in SEC home games during the Rick Stansbury era (since 1998-99).
* This afternoon's State victory over Georgia gives MSU a 48-47 series edgeover UGA... MSU has now prevailed in the last four head-to-head meetings allby double figures... State is now 7-1 at home versus Georgia since the SECwent to divisional play in 1991-92.
* In the last three games while sporting their retro-style uniforms duringthe SEC Throwback Week, the Bulldogs have shot a composite 53.9 percent(89-of-165 FGs) from the field - 32-55 FGs (58%) today against Georgia;29-59 FGs (49.2%) at Auburn & 28-51 FGs (54.9%) vs. Ole Miss... The Bulldogsalso averaged 79.3 points per game during SEC Throwback Week - producingthree of their top four scoring efforts in SEC play this season... In theirlast three halves of play (today and second half at Auburn), the Bulldogshave shot a composite 59.1 percent (52-of-88 FGs) from the field.
* Today's 58.2 percent shooting effort from the field marked MSU's highestsingle-game field-goal percentage against SEC competition since shooting59.0 percent (23-39 FGs) against Ole Miss in a 73-64 SEC Tournament win overthe Rebels in 2003.
* Today marked the first time this season in conference play that MSU haswon a league game when trailing at the halftime break... Heading intotoday's game, State had led at halftime in all three of its conferencevictories this season, while having trailed at the break in all 10 of itsleague losses.
* Today's +17 rebounding margin (48-31) over Georgia marked MSU's largestrebound margin over an SEC opponent since outboarding Ole Miss, 38-19, inlast year's 71-68 home win over the Rebels.
* The Bulldogs have had four players score in double figures during each ofthe last six games... MSU has had two players notch double-doubles each ofthe last two games (Slater & Gordon today vs. Georgia and Slater & Rhodes atAuburn this past Wednesday).
* Today marked the first game this season that the Bulldogs had two playersscore 20+ points in the same (career highs for both Rhodes [27] and Slater[22])... The last time MSU had two players score 20 or more points in thesame game was last year's NCAA Tournament win over Stanford (23 points byLawrence Roberts & 20 by Winsome Frazier).
* All-SEC candidate Charles Rhodes scored a career-high 27 points (11-of-15FGs), topping his previous high of 24 points set this season at Ole Miss andin Jackson versus Jacksonville State... Rhodes has now scored in doublefigures 15 consecutive games and has connected on 50 percent or better ofhis field goals in 12 of 14 SEC games this season... Rhodes' 27 points todaymarked an individual game high for the Bulldogs this season, betteringJamall Edmondson's 26-point effort against New Orleans.
* Junior Dietric Slater notched his third straight double-double today witha career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds against Georgia... The 22 pointsbested his 20-point performance in this year's season opener versusChattanooga... Slater has scored in double figures six straight games,averaging 14.3 points during that span... In addition, Slater has averaged7.6 rebounds per game over his last nine contests... Slater has now postednew single-game career highs in four different statistical categories overhis last six games - 22 points today vs. Georgia; 13 rebounds in home winover Ole Miss; four assists at South Carolina; and five steals in home winover Auburn.
* Freshman Jamont Gordon recorded his third double-double of the season,coming within one rebound of tying his season high of 13 rebounds set athome versus LSU... With 13 points today against Georgia, Gordon has nowscored in double digits in 23 of 27 games this season (13 of 14 SEC games),including his last nine outings.
* With freshman guard Richard Delk starting in place of the ill JamallEdmondson this afternoon, the Bulldogs have now started three freshmen in agame seven times this season (5-2 record)... MSU is now 5-0 in games whenRichard Delk starts (Georgia, Arkansas, George Mason, Liberty & JacksonvilleState)... Making his fifth start of the season today versus Georgia, RichardDelk set new single-game season highs for points (13), field goals made (6)and attempted (10), rebounds (8) and assists (5).