Mississippi State State Humphrey Coliseum Men's Basketball Starkville, Miss
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MISSISSIPPI POSTGAME NOTES FEBRUARY 16, 2008 ARKANSAS AT MISSISSIPPI STATE STATE HUMPHREY COLISEUM MEN'S BASKETBALL STARKVILLE, MISS. GAME NOTES • With today’s victory over Arkansas, the Bulldogs have now won eight straight home games over the Razorbacks… MSU’s home series win string over Arkansas dates back to the 2000-01 season. • Now 10-3 at home this season, the Bulldogs have reached double digits in home wins during each of Rick Stansbury’s 10 seasons at the State helm. • Entering the game ranked 11th in the SEC in free throw percentage (.624) for all games and 10th (.626) for conference games only, the Bulldogs have shot a combined 83.6 percent (46-of-55 FTs) from the charity stripe over their last two games (23-29 today vs. Arkansas & 23-26 at Auburn last Saturday). • Playing in his 100th career collegiate game for the Bulldogs, all-SEC senior forward Charles Rhodes tal- lied a game-high 24 points (19 in the fi rst half) this afternoon to mark his fi fth 20-point outing of the season and 17th of his career… Now with 1,235 career points, Rhodes moved ahead of Leland Mitchell, Dave Williams and Erick Dampier into 16th place on the school’s all-time scoring list. • Sophomore guard Barry Stewart is shooting 56 percent (14-of-25 treys) from beyond the arc over his last four games… Prior to the Feb. 2 game against Tennessee, Stewart was hitting only 16 percent (4-of-25 treys) from three-point range in league play. • With 10 points and 10 rebounds this afternoon against Arkansas, sophomore center Jarvis Varnado posted his fourth double-double of the season and fi fth of his career… The nation’s No. 1 shot-blocker had three more rejects today to raise his school-record season total to 114… He continues to stands in fourth place on MSU’s all-time list with 181 career blocks – just two behind Kalpatrick Wells. • Limited to just nine points (1-of-9 FGs) this afternoon – but with eight rebounds and eight assists – all- America candidate Jamont Gordon failed to reach double fi gures in the scoring column for only the 10th time in his 89-game MSU career. • Freshman Elgin Bailey tied his season high with eight points (4-5 FGs) today (also had three offensive rebounds), matching the eight points he had in MSU’s home win over Ole Miss. Mississippi State Head Coach Rick Stansbury OPENING COMMENTS… “First off, give Arkansas a lot of credit. John [Pelphrey] had them well prepared and they played as well as I think they have all year long. At the same time, I am proud of how we played and responded. In the fi rst half we controlled the game, had only fi ve turnovers and controlled the boards but again it is a 40-minute game. Fortu- nately we were able to fi nish this one out. In the second half we had some turnovers. They were able to knock some shots down off those turnovers, they also were able to bring a new level of energy to the game. Because of all that I felt we panicked a little bit and began to rush some things, but we settled back down and started to make some plays. Then we stepped up and knocked down some free throws. It was a great college game and fortunately we were able to get the win.” ON CHARLES RHODES… “Charles has been sick this past week but he came in today and told me he was ready to play. We may need to get him sick more often. He came out and responded and was terrifi c, especially in the fi rst half.” ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WIN… “I refl ect like this, that W is huge. It counts as only one win though. Also, us holding onto a two game lead in the western division with six games to go is nothing to brag about. It is also huge for us to protect our home court advantage.” ON JAMONT GORDON… “If you told me before the game Jamont Gordon was only going to make one-fi eld goal and we were going to win this ballgame, I probably would not have believed you. I think it shows how our team has evolved and we had some other guys step up and knock some shots down, notably Ben Hansbrough knocking huge two shots down the stretch.” ON ARKNASAS… “They are an experienced team and a tough team. They came out at the start of that second half and hit us a little bit and we started to back up, but fortunately down the stretch of the game we were able to step up and pick up the win.” ON HITTING FREE THROWS… “We have fi nally become a good free throw shooting team. What matters is the present and the last two ball games we have shot free throws well. I have said all along that we were a good free throw shooting team and my guys are fi nally stepping up and proving it.” ARKANSAS HEAD COACH JOHN PELPHREY OPENING COMMENTS… “I certainly understood coming in here that we would have our hands full with Mississippi State. It was a great atmosphere on this Saturday in the Southeastern Conference. I thought in the fi rst half we needed to compete a little bit better. We needed just more fi re and more edge. For them [Mississippi State], Charles Rhodes really came in strong fashion, and had an unbelievable fi rst half. Second half, we came out competitive in terms of our attitude. We started playing better defensively by making steals and blocking some shots. I guess the one thing we could not get done was the fouling. The other night against Tennessee we fouled 27 times. Tonight we com- mitted 23 fouls. You have to give Mississippi State credit, and foul shooting was a key separator in the game. Tonight, they [Mississippi State] just played better.” ON HOW THIS GAME MIGHT BE HIS TEAM’S BEST ROAD PERFORMANCE THIS SEASON… “Well, I would like to take the win. Certainly, I think we have played in some tough atmospheres this year, and I would say that against this team in this environment may very well be the best we have played on the road.” ON THE DIFFERENCE IN HIS TEAM’S PLAY IN THE SECOND HALF… “I thought we came out with a better attitude, and were a little tougher. Instead of letting them attack us, we attacked them. We got stops and were able to get out on the break. Its hard to manufacture a lot of points when you have to play half court basketball, but if you can defend, rebound and get out on the break it helps. I thought the big difference in the second half was that our defense was much better.” ON THE PLAY OF SENIOR GUARD GARY ERVIN… “I thought he played well. Anytime you can come out on the road and play 29 minutes without turning it over, that is good.” ON WHAT HIS TEAM TAKES FROM THIS TOUGH WEEK… “We just have to go on. There are six games left, and a lot of things could happen right now. Certainly, we are disappointed, but we have no reason to hang our heads. We have to get back to work, and focus on LSU.” ON THE PLAY OF MISSISSIPPI STATE GUARD JAMONT GORDON… “It tells you how good he is. He can go three-for-nine and still almost get a triple-double.” Mississippi State Player Quotes 23 - Charles Rhodes - Senior Forward/Center ON HIS HOT SHOOTING IN THE FIRST HALF… “I been in a couple of zones in my career, but I probably have not ever been in one like that before like in the fi rst half. I knew after that buzzer rung in the fi rst half, it was going to be a different second half because they were going to do so much to not get me the ball.” ON BIGGEST DIFFERENCE IN THE HALVES… “Arkansas is just a tough team. They are not going to back down from anyone. They are in the top of the west, so therefore we already knew what was going to happen. They got on runs and we just found a way to win.” 44 - Jamont Gordon - Junior Guard/Forward ON USING HIS DEFENSE TO LET OUT OFFENSIVE FRUSTRATION… “That was defi nitely what my mindset was. I knew I wasn’t doing good so I knew had to give my team some- thing out there. I got up and blocked two shots and they were big.” ON OTHER TEAMMATES GETTING INVOLVED TODAY… “They [Charles Rhodes and Barry Stewart] provided so much. They were big for us today. Charles [Rhodes] started off great. Barry [Stewart] had a great game also. They picked me up. I couldn’t score any buckets. I was having a bad night and they just picked me up. That is what teammates do and they had a wonderful night.” 22 - Barry Stewart - Sophomore Guard ON BEING AVAILABLE WHEN JAMONT GORDON PENETRATES… “Anytime Jamont [Gordon] penetrates I know they are going to sink in so I am always ready to shoot.” ON HIS PLAY TODAY… “I shot the ball very well tonight. I credit that to my teammates getting into the lanes and my post guys seeing me. [They] were just running the lanes hard. That is basically what it was.” 45 - Elgin Bailey - Freshman Forward/Center ON BUILDING CONFIDENCE FROM STOPPING 19-4 ARKANSAS RUN… “That gives our team a confi dence level off the roof.