MISSISSIPPI STATE 2008-09 MEN’S BASKETBALL Game #26: Mississippi State (16-9, 6-4) vs. South Carolina (18-5, 7-3) Wednesday, February 18, 2009 • 7 P.M. • Starkville, Miss. Humphrey Coliseum (10,500) • XM Radio: Channel 199 Mississippi State Athletic Media Relations • PO Box 5308 • MSU, MS 39762 Men’s Basketball SID: Gregg Ellis (662.325.3595; [email protected]) 2008-09 MSU RESULTS (16-9) PROBABLE STARTERS & TOP SUBSTITUTES DATE OPPONENT (TV) SCORE/TIME MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS (16-9, 6-4) Nov. 15 CENTENARY W 77-55 Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG APG SPG BPG Nov. 17 UL MONROE W 78-49 C 32 Jarvis Varnado 6-9 210 Jr. Brownsville, TN 13.4 9.3 0.9 0.6 4.9 Nov. 19 #NORTH ALABAMA W 102-61 G 25 Phil Turner 6-3 170 So. Grenada, MS 8.2 4.6 1.6 1.2 0.5 Nov. 22 #FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON W 84-58 G 3 Dee Bost 6-2 170 Fr. Concord, NC 11.0 3.1 4.3 1.5 0.0 Nov. 25 at St. Bonaventure W 76-71 G 22 Barry Stewart 6-3 170 Jr. Shelbyville, TN 11.4 3.5 1.6 1.4 0.4 Nov. 28 ^Washington State (HDNet) L 63-52 G 2 Ravern Johnson 6-7 175 So. Lyon, MS 12.1 3.4 1.3 0.4 0.5 Nov. 29 ^Texas Tech (HDNet) L 77-73 F 44 Brian Johnson 6-9 245 Sr. Laurinberg, NC 2.7 1.5 0.2 0.3 0.3 Dec. 6 ALABAMA STATE W 76-67 G 15 Riley Benock 6-4 180 So. Battletown, KY 2.7 1.1 0.7 0.6 0.1 Dec. 10 CHARLOTTE L 70-64 Dec. 13 SOUTH ALABAMA W 79-60 SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS (18-5, 7-3) Dec. 18 !Cincinnati (ESPN2) L 75-63 Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG APG SPG BPG Dec. 22 *Nicholls State W 74-68 F 21 Dominique Archie 6-7 200 Jr. Augusta, GA 11.7 6.7 0.8 1.4 1.0 Dec. 30 SAN DIEGO (FSN) L 64-61 ot C 24 Mike Holmes 6-7 230 So. Bishopville, SC 11.3 7.8 0.4 1.3 1.2 G 2 Devan Downey 5-9 175 Jr. Chester, SC 19.9 2.7 4.4 3.0 0.2 Jan. 3 HOUSTON (CSS) W 82-65 G 20 Zam Fredrick 6-0 203 Sr. St. Matthews, SC 15.6 3.1 1.8 0.8 0.1 Jan. 5 WESTERN KENTUCKY (CSS) W 95-67 G 44 Sam Muldrow 6-9 216 So. Florence, SC 6.3 5.3 0.2 0.4 1.3 Jan. 10 at Arkansas (FSN) W 70-56 Jan. 14 ALABAMA W 83-74 G 5 Brandis Raley-Ross 6-2 193 Jr. Gastonia, NC 6.4 2.9 1.9 0.6 0.3 F 31 Evaldas Baniulis 6-7 210 jr. Lithuania 7.0 2.7 0.9 0.7 0.1 Jan. 17 VANDERBILT (FSN) W 73-66 Jan. 21 at LSU L 81-57 Officials: TBA Jan. 24 at Georgia (ESPN2) W 67-61 Jan. 31 OLE MISS (Raycom) L 67-63 MSU RETURNS HOME TO FACE UPSTART SOUTH CAROLINA Feb. 3 at Kentucky (Raycom) W 66-57 Mississippi State looks to snap its two-game losing streak at 7 p.m. on Wednesday when it returns home to Feb. 7 ARKANSAS (Raycom) W 86-77 face a South Carolina squad that’s won two in a row and six out of its last seven. The Bulldogs, who lost to Feb. 11 LSU L 97-94 2ot LSU and Auburn this past week, haven’t lost three-straight SEC games since the 2006-07 season. Although Feb. 14 at Auburn (FSN) L 91-76 MSU defeated the Gamecocks in overtime last year in Columbia, USC has won three out of the last four in Feb. 18 SOUTH CAROLINA 7 p.m. this series. Overall, however, the Bulldogs hold an 11-8 advantage. Feb. 21 at Alabama 2 p.m. Feb. 25 at Tennessee (Raycom) 8 p.m. STEWART JOINS ELITE COMPANY BULLDOGS OWN UNBLEMISHED RECORD Feb. 28 AUBURN 5 p.m. With his first shot against Auburn last Saturday, a 3- AGAINST EASTERN DIVISION FOES Mar. 4 FLORIDA 8 p.m. pointer, junior forward Barry Stewart of Shelbyville, First it was Vanderbilt, then it was Georgia and Mar. 7 at Ole Miss TBA Tenn., became the 30th MSU player in school histo- Kentucky. What do all three have in common? All lost M. 12-15 +at SEC Tournament (Raycom/CBS) TBA ry to reach 1,000 for a career. He currently has to Mississippi State. The Bulldogs look to improve to # - Legends Classic, regional rounds (Starkville, Miss.) ^ - Legends Classic, championship rounds (Newark, N.J.) 1,017, and if he maintains his average of 10.8, he'll 4-0 on the year against Eastern Division foes against ! - SEC/Big East Challenge (Cincinnati, Ohio) finish with 1,427 points (based on a minimum of 38 South Carolina, one of three teams in the SEC (along * - at Jackson (Mississippi Coliseum) + - at Tampa, Fla. (St. Pete Times Forum) games), which would rank 12th all-time. He’s the with Ole Miss and Georgia) MSU has a winning third player in the last two years to achieve this mile- record against. Last year, Mississippi State posted a MSU-South Carolina Game Facts stone, joining Jamont Gordon and Charles Rhodes. 4-2 ledger against the East in the regular season. MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS The next likely candidate to join this club is junior for- Coach: Rick Stansbury ward Jarvis Varnado, who has 777 points, including CAN VARNADO BREAK HIS OWN MARK? Alma Mater: (Campbellsville, 1982) 334 for this season. With at least seven games remaining (six in the reg- MSU Record: 224-124 (11th year) ular season and one in the SEC tournament), Career Record: 224-124 (11th year) BOST PRODUCES RARE FRESHMAN FEAT Varnado has 122 blocked shots. Last year, he set a SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS In two games last week against Arkansas and LSU, school record and tied former LSU great Shaquille Coach: Darrin Horn point guard Dee Bost scored 25 and 20 points, O’Neal’s SEC single-season mark of 157. To set the Alma Mater: (Western Kentucky) respectively, to become the first freshman since record with 36 more, he’ll need to increase his aver- School Record: 18-5 (1st year) Rickey Brown in 1976-78 to score 20-plus points in Career Record: 129-53 (6th year) age of 4.9 this year to 5.1 in the remaining games. In back-to-back games. The Concord, N.C., native has SEC play, he’s averaging 4.0 blocks. Varnado also SERIES INFORMATION totaled 274 points this year, the ninth-most by an needs just 14 more blocks to tie Kyle Davis (Auburn) Series Record: MSU leads, 11-8 MSU freshman. He’s on pace to finish with at least for the second-most in SEC history with 360. O’Neal Last Year: MSU won 61-56 in OT @ USC (2-23-08) 351 points, which would rank sixth all-time. owns the career record with 412. Mississippi State-South Carolina Notes • February 18, 2009 THE LAST 10 VERSUS SOUTH CAROLINA (MSU LEADS, 6-4) Statistical Comparison When Where Result When Where Result SEC Team 3/3/01 Starkville W, 77-73 1/22/05 Starkville W, 73-65 Rankings MSU vs. South Carolina 3/8/01 Nashville L, 69-62 2/11/06 Columbia L, 83-61 3/2/02 Columbia W, 64-57 3/9/06 Nashville L, 59-44 1/22/03 Starkville W, 64-48 1/27/07 Starkville L, 66-63 Category Rank 2008-09 Stats MSU USC 2/11/04 Columbia W, 79-75 OT 2/23/08 Columbia W, 61-56 OT 2008-09 Record 16-9 18-5 Scoring. 7 Conference Record 6-4 7-3 Scoring Defense . 6 Scoring 74.8 80.2 MSU ENJOYED MORE NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS Scoring Margin. 7 Scoring Defense 67.9 70.1 Including last year’s 11-7 ledger against non-conference foes, coupled with this year’s 10-5 mark, Mississippi State has compiled a dominant Scoring Margin +7.0 +10.1 Field Goal Pct. 8 121-38 (.761) record against non-conference opponents during the Rick Field Goal Pct 44.4 46.1 Opp. Field Goal Pct. 2 Stansbury era (since 1998-99), including a 113-30 (.790) regular-season Opp. Field Goal Pct. 38.9 43.5 mark versus non-league foes. 3-point FG Pct . 3 3-Point FG Percentage 37.3 38.3 Opp. 3-point FG Pct. 9 Opp. 3-Point FG Pct. 34.8 31.3 FEBRUARY AND HOME DOMINANCE UNDER STANSBURY 3-point FG Made . 1 Free Throw Percentage 70.8 62.8 Including last year’s 5-2 February record, the Bulldogs are 44-34 (.564) Opp. Free Throw Pct. 64.6 73.4 in the month of February since Rick Stansbury was named head coach. Free Throw Pct. 4 Rebounding Average 38.0 36.6 Dating back to the 1988-89 season when Richard Williams was over- Rebounding Average . 6 Opp. Rebounding Ave. 38.9 36.8 seeing the program, Mississippi State owns a composite ledger of 81-75 Opp. Rebounding Avg.. 12 Rebound Margin -1.0 -0.3 (.519) in February. Offensive Rebounds .