Pac-12 Foe Oregon State Visits Humphrey Coliseum

Thursday, December 1

Starkville

8:00 PM

Mississippi State

Oregon State

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Mississippi State, Oregon State square off at 8 p.m. on Thursday at Humphrey Coliseum.

Pac-12 Foe Oregon State Visits Humphrey Coliseum

November 30, 2016 | Men's Basketball

MSU Game Notes Oregon State Game Notes SEC Notes

STARKVILLE, Miss. – After rallying from a 10-point deficit behind the play of I.J. Ready to upend Northwestern State, Mississippi State is back on the court Thursday in a nationally-televised ESPNU game against Oregon State.

Tip is set for 8 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum, with Richard Cross and Brooke Weisbrod handling the broadcast. The game can also be heard on the MSU radio network with veterans Jim Ellis and Richard Williams on the call.

MSU stands at 4-2 on the year following Monday's 65-59 win against the Demons. Senior guard I.J. Ready paced MSU with a 14 points, 5 assists and 5 steals, while sophomore forward Aric Holman poured in 13. And in his first-career start, Eli Wright totaled 11 points.

THE SERIES
MSU is 1-1 against the Beavers, but this is the first meeting outside the state of Oregon. The two last met in Corvallis in December of 2014, with Oregon State posting a 59-49 win.

COACHES
Ben Howland is in his second year at MSU and 21^st overall. As a head coach in four different stops, he is 419-225 with a 18-19 mark with the Bulldogs

Wayne Tinkle is in his third year with the Beavers and owns a 39-31 ledger. In 11 years as a head coach, he is 197-122.

QUOTABLE
"Right before the game, Coach came up to me blankly and told me that I was going to be starting. I think I played okay. I couldn't done a lot of things better. I could've been more aggressive." — Eli Wright on his first start.

NEXT 2
Dec. 4 against Georgia State and Dec. 14 against East Tennessee State, both at Humphrey Coliseum.

BULLDOG BITES

lEli Wright earned his first-career start against Northwestern State and responded with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with his 7 rebounds.
Against the Demons, MSU overcame a 10-point deficit. It was the second time this year the Bulldogs overcame a double-digit deficit to win (UTEP, 11).
MSU made just two 3-pointers against the Demons, the fewest since also having two against Kentucky on 2-25-15.
Three times this season, MSU has been tied at halftime. In each outing, the Bulldogs won.
MSU is 9-13 against the 12 teams that currently comprise the Pac-12. Arizona is the team the Bulldogs have played the most (2-2), while Oregon State is last foe MSU played (a 59-49 loss on Dec. 13, 2014).
Walk-on Nick Singleton had a career-high game against Northwestern State with 5 points in 13 minutes of play. He entered the game having played just 2 minutes on the year.
In MSU's three home games, freshman guard Tyson Carter is averaging 14.3 points and has scored in double-digits all three games.
I.J. Ready is now 249 points shy of becoming the 37th player in MSU history to score 1,000 for a career. He also needs just 21 assists to move into the MSU all-time Top 10. In addition, he is 20 steals shy of moving in the MSU Top 10 record book.
According to KenPom.com, Mississippi State is the least experienced team (.72) out of all 351 Division I programs.
After using the same starting lineup the first four games, MSU has used three different lineups in the last three games. With the injury to Quinndary Weatherspoon, Lamar Peters started in his place once and the Eli Wright the last game.
Key for Mississippi State is shooting 45 percent or better from the field — 3-0 when that happens.
Of current SEC players, I.J. Ready is 10th with 751 points, third with 119 steals and fourth with 304 assists. He reached the 300 mark with assists against Northwestern State.