State Meets Georgia Saturday Afternoon In Athens In Key Late-Season Matchup
With Tom Hammond and Larry Conley slated to provide the play-by-play and color commentary, respectively, for Lincoln Financial Sports, Saturday's key inter-divisional clash between these mascot namesakes can also be heard on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 126.
Sporting a 5-1 record in the month of February, including a current four-game winning streak, coach Rick Stansbury's Bulldogs are 16-10 overall and tied with in-state rival Ole Miss for the top spot in the SEC Western Division standings with 7-6 league marks. Owners of the best divisional record in the SEC West and the lone West team with more than one league road win this season, the Bulldogs most recently snapped a 13-game losing streak against nationally ranked opponents with Wednesday's impressive 83-70 home triumph over 17th-ranked Vanderbilt. Once owners of a 12-game SEC road losing streak, State heads to Athens having claimed its last two league road outings with wins at LSU (56-50) and Auburn (91-83) the past two Saturdays.This Saturday's contest at Georgia concludes MSU's regular-season competition against SEC Eastern Division opposition.
Now leading the SEC in scoring offense (76.1 ppg) for league games only, MSU's offensive catalyst is all-SEC candidate Jamont Gordon (16.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg & 4.8 apg), who registered just the second triple-double in recorded school history with 15 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists against Vanderbilt. Averaging 20.5 points in his last four outings, including 23 points versus Vandy, fellow preseason all-SEC selection Charles Rhodes is MState's second-leading scorer (13.3 ppg) and No. 2 rebounder (6.0 rpg). Freshman guard Barry Stewart, an SEC Sixth Man of the Year candidate, averages 10.5 points per game on 40 percent three-point shooting on the year, while senior swingman Dietric Slater has boosted his season's scoring average to double figures (10.1 ppg) after Wednesday's season-high, 18-point effort against the Commodores.
Guided by fourth-year head coach Dennis Felton, Georgia also owns a 16-10 overall record and is in a fourth-place tie with Tennessee in the SEC East race with 7-6 league marks. Most recently, the Bulldogs had a three-game winning streak snapped with Wednesday's 67-49 setback at Ole Miss. Georgia is 12-3 at home on the season, losing only to Florida (71-61 on Feb. 7) in league home action this year. Playing the rest of the season without injured sophomore guard Mike Mercer (13.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg & 3.3 apg), UGA is led in scoring by junior forward Takais Brown (14.0 ppg & 5.4 rpg) and senior guard Levi Stukes (11.9 ppg & 43% treys). Junior guard Sundiata Gaines leads Georgia in rebounding (5.6 rpg), assists (4.5 apg) and steals(2.2 spg) in addition to averaging 10.5 points per contest.
Mississippi State owns a slim 48-47 all-time series lead over Georgia through the years, though the Maroon and White-clad Bulldogs have prevailed in the last four head-to-head series meetings all by double figures and by an average margin of 13.3 points per game. State travels to Athens looking to claim a fifth straight series win over Georgia for the first time in school history.