Bulldogs Back At Home To Face Morehead State

Thursday, December 22

Starkville

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

Morehead State

Buy tickets

Mississippi State returns to Humphrey Coliseum Thursday to face Morehead State.

Bulldogs Back At Home To Face Morehead State

December 21, 2016 | Men's Basketball

MSU Notes Morehead State Notes SEC Notes

STARKVILLE, Miss. – After throttling Southern Miss 86-44 Monday night in Jackson, Mississippi State returns to Humphrey Coliseum on Thursday to battle Morehead State.

Tip is set for 6 p.m., with Matt Stewart and Acie Law handling the SEC Network broadcast. The game can also be heard on the MSU radio network with veterans Jim Ellis and Richard Williams on the call. Tickets can also be purchased for $1

MSU stands at 7-3 on the year after draining a school record 17 3-pointers against the Golden Eagles. Sophomore guard Quinndary Weatherspoon paced the Bulldogs with his 16 points, while Lamar Peters came off the bench to score 15

The Eagles enter the contest 3-8 following its 111-85 win Central Arkansas.

THE SERIES
MSU is 4-0 against Morehead State, but the two haven't met since December of 1979.

COACHES
Ben Howland is in his second year at MSU and 21^st overall. As a head coach in four different stops, he is 422-226 with a 21-20 mark with the Bulldogs.

Preston Spradlin is in his first year with the Eagles and owns a 1-6 ledger.

NEXT 2
Dec. 29 against Missouri-Kansas City and Jan. 3 against Alabama, both at Humphrey Coliseum.

BULLDOG BITES

Mississippi State and Morehead State are meeting for the first time since December of 1979.
The Bulldogs are looking for their first 8-3 start since beginning the 2013-14 campaign 9-3.
MSU is 36-4 against the 12 teams that currently comprise the Ohio Valley Conference, playing all but Eastern Illinois. The last OVC team MSU faced was UT-Martin last season, a 76-51 win at Humphrey Coliseum. Murray State and UT-Martin are the teams MSU has played the most (9).
With his 16 points against Southern Miss, sophomore guard Quinndary Weatherspoon surpassed 500 for his career.
Against the Golden Eagles, MSU set a school record with its 17 made 3-pointers (29 attempts). The old record of 16 happened three times, the last on 12-5-09 against St. Bonaventure.
Also against Southern Miss, MSU had a 35-0 run, its best in the modern era.
The 42-point win was the largest since beating New Orleans by 51 (97-46) on 1-3-13.
MSU had season highs in assists (21) and blocks versus Southern Miss (11).
Sophomore Xavian Stapleton, a Louisiana Tech transfer, made his MSU debut against USM and finished with 8 points, 2 steals, 1 block and 1 rebound.
I.J. Ready is 102nd nationally and 4th in the SEC with his 2.45 assist/turnover ratio.
I.J. Ready is now 228 points shy of becoming the 37th player in MSU history to score 1,000 for a career. Against Southern Miss, he had 8 assists to give him 327 for his career, now the 10th most in school history. In addition, he is 11 steals shy of moving in the MSU Top 10 record book.
In his last four games, backup guard Lamar Peters has made 15 of his last 26 3-point attempts (.577). He drained six against Georgia State.
KenPom.com has Mississippi State as the least experienced team (.72) of all 351 DI programs.
When is Mississippi State successful? When shooting 45 percent or better (6-0), outrebounding foes (6-0) and winning or being tied at the half (7-0).
Of current SEC players, I.J. Ready is 11th with 772 points, third with 129 steals and fourth with 327 assists.