MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY 2007-08 MEN’S BASKETBALL Mississippi State University Athletic Media Relations • PO Box 5308 • MSU, MS 39762 Men’s Basketball SID: David Rosinski • 662-325-3595 • [email protected] Game #2 - Mississippi State (1-0) vs. Clemson (1-0) Thursday, November 15, 2007 • 7 p.m. • Starkville, Mississippi Humphrey Coliseum (10,500) • FSN South/SUN Sports MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS (1-0) 2007-08 MSU RESULTS (1-0) Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG APG DATE OPPONENT (TV) SCORE/TIME F 23 Charles Rhodes 6-8 245 Sr. Jackson, MS 17.0 7.0 2.0 bpg Nov. 10 LOUISIANA TECH W 75-45 Nov. 15 CLEMSON (FSN/SUN) 7 p.m. C 32 Jarvis Varnado 6-9 210 So. Brownsville, TN 4.0 5.0 6.0 bpg Nov. 17 TENNESSEE-MARTIN 7 p.m. G 11 Ben Hansbrough 6-3 205 So. Poplar Bluff, MO 11.0 3.0 3.0 Nov. 22 #UC Irvine (ESPNU) 1 p.m. UBSTITUTES G 22 Barry Stewart 6-2 170 So. Shelbyville, TN 13.0 11.0 3.0 Nov. 23 #SIU/Chattanooga (ESPNU/2) 2/4:30p.m. S G 44 Jamont Gordon 6-4 230 Jr. Nashville, TN 21.0 5.0 3.0 Nov. 25 #TBD (ESPNU/2) TBD Dec. 1 MURRAY STATE Noon OP F/C 21 Brian Johnson 6-9 245 Jr. Laurinburg, NC 4.0 2.0 0.0 Dec. 8 SOUTHEASTERN LA. (CSS) 2 p.m. Dec. 13 MIAMI, FLA. (FSN/SUN) 7 p.m. G 25 Phil Turner 6-3 170 Fr. Grenada, MS 0.0 4.0 2.0 Dec. 15 *at South Alabama (CSS) 7 p.m. & T Dec. 19 at Loyola Marymount 9 p.m. CLEMSON TIGERS (1-0) Dec. 21 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (CSS) 7 p.m. Dec. 29 MISSOURI (FSN/SUN) 4 p.m. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG APG Jan. 5 ^Lafayette College 2 p.m. F 1 K.C. Rivers 6-5 215 Jr. Charlotte, NC 11.0 8.0 4.0 Jan. 9 at LSU 7 p.m. TARTERS F 40 James Mays 6-9 230 Sr. Garner, NC 17.0 6.0 3.0 Jan. 12 GEORGIA (LF) 1 p.m. S C 35 Trevor Booker 6-7 240 So. Whitmire, SC 8.0 6.0 5.0 bpg Jan. 15 KENTUCKY (ESPN) 8 p.m. Jan. 19 at Alabama (LF) 2 p.m. G 2 Demontez Stitt 6-2 170 Fr. Matthews, NC 12.0 1.0 1.0 Jan. 26 MISSISSIPPI (FSN/SUN) 4 p.m. G 25 Cliff Hammonds 6-3 200 Sr. Cairo, GA 14.0 2.0 5.0 Jan. 30 at Arkansas (LF) 7 p.m. Feb. 2 TENNESSEE (FSN/SUN) 6 p.m. G 22 Terrence Oglesby 6-2 185 Fr. Cleveland, TN 8.0 3.0 2.0 Feb. 6 ALABAMA 7 p.m. ROBABLE P C/F 12 Raymond Sykes 6-9 220 Jr. Jacksonville, FL 6.0 4.0 2.0 bpg Feb. 9 at Auburn (FSN/SUN) 6 p.m. Feb. 16 ARKANSAS (ESPN) 3 p.m. Officials: TBA Feb. 20 at Mississippi 7 p.m. Feb. 23 at South Carolina (LF) 3 p.m. BULLDOGS HOST CLEMSON TIGERS IN KEY EARLY-SEASON HOOPS MATCH-UP Feb. 27 AUBURN 7 p.m. In a key mid-November, non-conference battle between two reigning MasterCard NIT semifinal- Mar. 1 at Florida (CBS) 3 p.m. ists, the Bulldogs of Mississippi State (1-0) continue their season-opening, three-game homestand by Mar. 5 at Vanderbilt 7 p.m. playing host to the Clemson Tigers (1-0) Thursday evening on the MSU campus. Tip-off for the Mar. 8 LSU TBA MSU-CU contest is set for 7 p.m. CT at Humphrey Coliseum and the game will be televised region- M. 13-16 +at SEC Tournament (LF/CBS) TBA ally by FSN South/Sunshine Sports. Picked in the preseason to finish second in the SEC’s Western Division race, coach Rick # - Anaheim Classic (Anaheim, CA) Stansbury’s Bulldogs opened their 2007-08 campaign with a 75-45 home victory over Louisiana Tech * - Coors Classic (Mobile, AL) this past Saturday. MSU earlier posted exhibition victories over NAIA members Oklahoma City ^ - at Jackson, MS (Mississippi Coliseum) (100-69) and the University of the Cumberlands (71-60). In Saturday’s season opener, MState tied an all-time, single-game school mark by committing just four turnovers against Louisiana Tech, while + - at Atlanta, GA (Georgia Dome) limiting the visitors to just 27-percent field-goal shooting for the game and being credited with 10 blocks. Sophomore Barry Stewart notched his first collegiate double-double with 13 points and a MSU-CLEMSON GAME FACTS career-high 11 rebounds. Preseason all-America candidate Jamont Gordon paced four State double- digit scorers with 21 points, while all-SEC forward Charles Rhodes followed with 17 points. Gordon MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS enters the Clemson contest five points shy of becoming the 28th member of MSU’s 1,000-point club. Upon finishing the 2006-07 campaign with a school-record 25 wins and a runner-up finish in the Coach: Rick Stansbury MasterCard NIT, the Clemson Tigers are picked to finish fourth in the preseason Atlantic Coast Alma Mater: (Campbellsville, 1982) Conference poll. Guided by fifth-year head coach Oliver Purnell, Clemson opened its current cam- MSU Record: 186-104 (10th year) paign with an easy 91-46 home victory over Furman. In that contest, the Tigers were credited with Career Record: 186-104 (10th year) 25 steals, while Furman had 37 turnovers. Preseason all-America candidate James Mays led four CU twin-digit scorers in the team’s opener with 17 points, six rebounds, six steals and three assists. CLEMSON TIGERS The Bulldogs will close out their season-opening homestand by playing host to UT Martin this Coach: Oliver Purnell Saturday (7 p.m.) before heading to Anaheim, Calif., to participate in the inaugural Anaheim Classic, Alma Mater: (Old Dominion, 1975) set to be televised by ESPNU and ESPN2. MSU will open next week’s tournament on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 22) by taking on UC Irvine at the Anaheim Convention Center prior to meeting either School Record: 71-58 (5th year) reigning NCAA Sweet 16 participant Southern Illinois or Chattanooga the following day. Career Record: 327-249 (20th year) SERIES INFORMATION The Bulldogs currently sport an eight-game In their respective season openers, MSU tied a Series Record: CU leads, 2-0 home winning streak dating back to this past single-game school record with only four at Starkville: First Meeting February... Including NIT home wins over turnovers against Louisiana Tech, while Clemson Mississippi Valley State, Bradley and Florida matched an all-time school mark by being credit- at Clemson: CU leads, 1-0 State in March, MSU’s average winning margin ed with 25 steals in its win over Furman. at Neutral Sites: CU leads, 1-0 during its current eight-game home win string Last Meeting: CU, 69-66 (11-21-06 @ CU) has been 20.1 points per victory. Featuring 11 underclassmen (seven freshmen & four sophomores), the Bulldogs had eight players TELEVISION: FSN SOUTH/SUN SPORTS Under 10th-year head coach Rick Stansbury, make their MSU playing debuts during PLAY-BY-PLAY: DAVE NEAL; COLOR: MIKE GMINSKI MState owns composite records of 111-25 (.816) Saturday’s season opener against Louisiana Tech. overall at home; 58-6 (.906) at home against non- RADIO: XM RADIO - SEC 200 conference opponents; 102-27 (.791) versus non- MState’s Jamont Gordon and Brian Johnson, Available on MSU’s 29-station radio network through- SEC foes overall; and 34-9 (.791) overall during along with Clemson’s K.C. Rivers, all competed out Mississippi and via www.mstateathletics.com the month of November. previously at powerhouse Oak Hill Academy. PxP: Jack Cristil (51st year); Color: Jim Ellis (25th year) STATISTICAL COMPARISON BULLDOGS LOOK FOR FIRST SERIES WIN OVER THE CLEMSON TIGERS VS LEMSON The Bulldogs of Mississippi State will be looking for their first series win over the Clemson Tigers MSU . C on Thursday. A year ago (Nov. 21, 2006) at Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum in just the second all-time MSU CU hardwood meeting between the two teams, MSU’s NCAA-best, 15-game road winning streak against Overall Record . .1-0 1-0 non-conference opponents came to an end by virtue of a 69-66 setback to the Tigers. State’s impres- sive non-SEC road win string had dated back to the 2000-01 season. Last season at Clemson, Cliff Conference Record . .0-0 0-0 Hammonds and James Mays paced the winners with 20 and 17 points, respectively, while MSU’s Scoring . .75.0 91.0 Charles Rhodes scored all 20 of his points in the second half following first-half foul trouble. Scoring Defense . .45.0 46.0 In the first-ever MSU-Clemson meeting during the consolation game of the University of Houston-hosted 1981 Kettle Classic played at Hofheinz Pavilion, coach Bob Boyd’s State squad Scoring Margin . .+30.0 +45.0 dropped a 59-32 decision to coach Bill Foster’s Clemson club. Shooting 58 percent from the field (22- Field Goal Pct . .38.0 54.2 38 FGs), the winners were led by Vincent Hamilton’s 12 points and seven rebounds. Without a dou- Opp. Field Goal Pct. .27.4 34.0 ble-digit scorer in the low-scoring contest, MSU received eight points apiece from Butch Pierre and 3-Point FG Percentage .