MMISSISSIPPIISSISSIPPI SSTATETATE BBASKETBALLASKETBALL GAME 30: AUBURN 22010010 WESTERNWESTERN DIVISIONDIVISION CCHAMPSHAMPS MMISSISSIPPIISSISSIPPI SSTATETATE BBULLDOGSULLDOGS Gregg Ellis, Media Relations Contact 662.325.3595 (O) or 662.322.0145 (C) [email protected] www.mstateathletics.com MISSISSIPPI STATE (21-8, 9-5) AT AUBURN (14-15, 5-9) ISSISSIPPI TATE CHEDULE Wednesday, March 3, 2010 7 p.m. CT 2009-10 M S S Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum (10,500), Auburn Date Opponent Score/Time TV: SEC Network N 13 Rider L 88-74 Announcers: PxP, Eric Collins N 19 Southeastern Louisiana W 82-67 Analyst, Mark Gottfried N 21 Bethune-Cookman W 67-51 Series Record: Auburn leads, 69-63 N 24 Texas-Pan American W 75-50 Earlier This Year: MSU won 85-75 in overtime in Starkville N 27 @vs. Richmond (FCS) L 63-62 XM Radio: 242 Offi cials: John Cahill, Rick Crawford, Tim Higgins N 28 @vs. Old Dominion W 69-55 D 5 St. Bonaventure W 105-53 WEDNESDAY’S PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP D 10 #vs. DePaul (ESPN2) W 76-45 MISSISSIPPI STATE AUBURN D 12 %vs. UCLA (Fox Sports Net) W 72-54 3 G Dee Bost, So., 6-2, 170 4 F Lucas Hargrove, Sr., 6-6, 218 D 16 Wright State (ESPN2) W 80-69 2 G Ravern Johnson, Jr., 6-7, 175 12 G DeWayne Reed, Sr., 6-1, 175 D 19 at Houston (CSS) W 70-64 22 G Barry Stewart, Sr., 6-3, 170 20 G Frankie Sullivan, So, 6-1, 195 D 22 Centenary (at Jackson) W 88-51 24 F Kodi Augustus, Jr., 6-8, 220 24 G Tay Waller, Sr., 6-2, 193 D 28 Mississippi Valley State W 73-45 32 F Jarvis Varnado, Sr., 6-9, 230 34 F Johnnie Lett, Sr., 6-8, 210 D 31 at San Diego W 77-68 Top Reserves: G Riley Benock, Top Reserves: C Brendon Knox, G Phil Turner G Josh Wallace J 4 at Western Kentucky (CSS) L 55-52 J 9 at Ole Miss (SEC Network) W 80-75 13 KEY THINGS TO NOTE PLAYING AUBURN J 14 Arkansas (ESPNU) W 82-80 Mississippi State clinched at least a share of the 2010 Western Division with the win J 16 Georgia (ESPN2) W 72-69 at South Carolina, the seventh in school history. J 23 at Alabama (CBS) L 62-57 Rick Stansbury-coached teams have now won fi ve divisional titles. Only Tubby J 28 at Arkansas (ESPN2) L 67-62 Smith’s seven at Kentucky are higher in SEC history. J 30 LSU (SEC Network) W 67-51 Mississippi State has won fi ve of the last seven against Auburn and fi ve of the last F 3 at Vanderbilt (SEC Network) L 75-72 10 at Auburn. F 6 at Florida (SEC Network) L 69-62 MSU has won a Western Division best seven games this season. Against South Carolina, MSU's bench failed to score a single point for the fi rst time F 11 Ole Miss (ESPN) W 71-63 this season. F 13 Auburn (FSN) W ot 85-75 Of the 134 games Jarvis Varnado has played in, only eight times has he not F 16 Kentucky (ESPN) L ot 81-75 blocked a shot. He’s currently enjoying a streak of 46-straight games with a block. F 20 at LSU (SEC Network) W 60-59 Barry Stewart is now fi fth all-time at MSU with 157 steals. F 24 Alabama (CSS) W 74-66 14 of the Bulldogs’ last 16 games have been decided by 10 points or less. In those F 27 at South Carolina (ESPN) W 76-63 outings, Mississippi State is 8-6. M 3 at Auburn (SEC Network) 7 p.m. MSU is 12-0 when shooting 45 percent or better. M 6 Tennessee (ESPN) 5 p.m. Dee Bost is one of two SEC players to log more than 1,000 minutes. The other is M 11-14 SEC Tournament (Nashville) TBA LSU’s Tasmin Mitchell, who leads the league with 1,040 minutes. Barry Stewart now ranks 8th all-time with 1,511 points, while Jarvis Varnado is @ - South Padre Island Invitational 15th with 1,299 points. # - SEC/Big East Challenge (Tampa, FL) Ravern Johnson tied current MSU assistant Marcus Grant for the fi fth-most made % - John R. Wooden Classic (Anaheim, CA) 3-pointers in school history with 164. Jarvis Varnado was tabbed SEC Player of the Week for the second time this year. CLOSING OUT GYMS NOTHING NEW FOR MSU Wednesday’s game at Auburn will be the last at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. And COACHING FACTS it’s not the fi rst time Mississippi State has been the last foe in opposing gyms. In 2002, MSU and South Carolina played the fi nal game at Carolina Coliseum, with the MISSISSIPPI STATE Bulldogs winning 64-57. MSU also closed out historic Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Coach: Rick Stansbury losing 94-93 in overtime to Kentucky. Record at MSU: 252-136, 12th year VARNADO, STEWART NOW STAND ALONE Overall Record: Same With his eighth block against Alabama on Feb. 24, senior All-SEC standout Jarvis Var- Record vs. Auburn: 14-9 nado became the NCAA career leader, breaking the mark of 535 set by former Louisiana- Monroe standout Wojciech Myrda from 1998-2002. AUBURN He now has 143 for the year, second only to Marshall’s Hassan Whiteside (159). Coach: Jeff Lebo With his made 3-pointer against Alabama in the second half on Wednesday, senior Record at Auburn: 95-91, 5th year Barry Stewart broke Darryl Wilson’s school record of 258 made treys. He tied the mark at LSU and now has 264 for his career. He’s also tops with 730 attempted 3s. Career Record: 210-154, 12th year D eecadec a d e of CCHAMPIONSHIPSH A M P I O N S H I P S MMISSISSIPPIISSISSIPPI SSTATETATE BBASKETBALLASKETBALL GAME 30: AUBURN 2 Statistical Comparison LAST 10 VERSUS AUBURN (6-4) Date Where Result Date Where Result 2009-10 Stats MSU AU Feb. 5, 2005 Auburn L, 90-76 Feb. 9, 2008 Auburn W, 83-64 2009-10 Record 21-8 14-15 Feb. 4, 2006 Starkville W, 71-53 Feb. 27, 2008 Starkville W, 89-78 Conference Record 9-5 5-9 Feb. 22, 2006 Auburn L, 75-71 Feb. 14, 2009 Auburn L, 91-76 Scoring 73.0 76.0 Jan. 20, 2007 Starkville W, 87-76 Feb. 28, 2009 Starkville L, 76-58 Feb. 10, 2007 Auburn W, 91-83 Feb. 13, 2010 Starkville W, 85-75 ot Scoring Defense 63.2 73.9 * — SEC Tournament Scoring Margin +9.8 +2.1 Field Goal Pct. 43.5 44.5 MSU ENJOYS MORE NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS Opp. FG Pct. 37.6 45.3 Including last year’s 10-6 ledger against non-conference foes coupled 3-Point FG Pct. 36.2 33.4 with this year’s 12-3 mark, MSU has compiled a dominant 133-42 (.760) Opp. 3-Point FG Pct. 31.7 35.4 record against non-conference opponents during the Rick Stansbury era Free Throw Pct. 68.4 65.7 (since 1998-99), including a 125-33 (.791) regular-season mark. Opp. FT Pct. 67.0 70.9 Rebounding Average 40.4 35.1 MISSISSIPPI STATE’S RECORD WHEN . Opp. Rebounding Avg. 36.8 35.6 During the Rick Stansbury era, the Bulldogs are: 199-30 when leading Rebound Margin +3.7 -0.4 at halftime (17-3 this year); 174-32 (12-0) when shooting 45 percent or Assists 12.9 13.1 better from the fi eld; 211-67 (21-6) when the opposition shoots less than Turnovers 13.1 13.2 45 percent from the fi eld; 199-72 (15-4) when out-rebounding or tying op- Turnover Margin -1.8 +1.5 ponents; and 153-28 (13-3) when holding opponents to 65 points or less. Steals 5.8 8.2 Blocked Shots 7.9 2.8 FEBRUARY RECORD UNDER STANSBURY Including last year’s 3-5 mark, coupled with this year’s 5-3 ledger, the Statistical Leaders Bulldogs are 50-40 (.556) in the month of February since Rick Stansbury Scoring was named head coach. MSU PPG AU PPG Dating back to the 1987-88 season when Richard Williams was over- Johnson ..... 13.8 Reed ........16.0 seeing the program, Mississippi State owns a composite ledger of 87-81 Varnado ..... 13.5 Waller ........15.4 (.518) in February. Rebounding STEWART, VARNADO GET GAMES PLAYED RECORD; MSU RPG AU RPG VARNADO SETS GAMES STARTED MARK Varnado ..... 10.9 Hargrove ..........7.0 From 2000-03, Derrick Zimmerman played in 127 games. From 1980- Augustus...... 5.7 Knox ..........3.9 83, Kalpatrick Wells started 110 games. Assists Both were school records at season’s start. Both have fallen. MSU APG AU APG Against Florida, Jarvis Varnado and Barry Stewart played in their Bost ............. 5.2 Reed ..........4.3 128th games, passing Zimmerman’s mark. They each now have 134. Stewart ........ 2.7 Hargrove ..........2.8 Varnado also drew his 111th-career start against Alabama, breaking Wells’ record. He now has 112 starts. Blocks MSU BPG AU BPG BOMBS AWAY . DOGS AIMING FOR RECORD Varnado ....... 4.9 Knox ..........1.1 Last year, Mississippi State set a single-season record with 296 made Augustus...... 0.9 Hargrove ..........0.4 3-pointers. This year, the Bulldogs are bidding to pass that mark. Steals MSU has connected on 263 of its 726 attempts through the fi rst 29 MSU SPG AU SPG games.