Howland's Dogs Open SEC Play Against Alabama

Tuesday, January 3

Starkville

7:30 PM

Mississippi State

Alabama

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Bulldogs Start SEC Play Against Alabama

Howland's Dogs Open SEC Play Against Alabama

January 02, 2017 | Men's Basketball

MSU Game Notes UMKC Game Notes Alabama Game Notes SEC Game Notes Ben Howland Press Conference

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Entering SEC play with a three-game winning streak, Mississippi State welcomes Alabama to Humphrey Coliseum.

Tip is set for 7:30 p.m., with Adam Amin and Jon Sundvold 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.

MSU stands at 9-3 on the year after blowing past UMKC last week, 77-54. Sophomore guard Quinndary Weatherspoon paced the Bulldogs with his 25 points, while Tyson Cater added 11.

The Crimson enters the contest 7-5 following its 83-60 setback to UT Martin.

THE SERIES
Alabama leads the all-time series 120-74. However, MSU won the last meeting last year in Tuscaloosa, 67-61.

COACHES
Ben Howland is in his second year at MSU and 21^st overall. As a head coach in four different stops, he is 424-226 with a 23-20 mark with the Bulldogs.

Avery Johnson is in his second year with Bama and owns a 24-20 ledger.

QUOTABLE
"We are the youngest, or second youngest team in the country. As much as we are talking about them learning from experience, we have the least amount of experience. It is always helpful to have older guys. It has really helped Lamar having I.J. (Ready) there to tutor him. When they are in together it is one of our best line ups." — Ben Howland on his team's youth.

NEXT 2
Jan. 7 on the road at LSU, followed by a visit to Arkansas on Jan. 10.

BULLDOG BITES

The Bulldogs are looking to snap a three-game losing streak to Alabama at Humphrey Coliseum. The Tide has never won four in a row at the Hump.
MSU is 45-38 in SEC lid-lifters — 30-18 at home, 15-19 on the road and 0-1 at neutral sites.
Mississippi State most common league-opening foe is Auburn (21, 10-11).
The Bulldogs are 2-4 against Alabama in openers, with the last meeting coming in 2011, a 75-57 Tide win at the Hump.
MSU has shot 50 percent or better in back-to-back games and three times this season. In those contests, the Bulldogs are 3-0. In fact, the they are 8-0 when shooting 45 percent or better.
Sophomore guard Quinndary Weatherspoon scored a career-high 27 points against Morehead State, the most by any Bulldog player this season. He then totaled 25 points against UMKC. MSU is 6-1 all-time in games he totals 20-plus points with a 5-0 mark this year. He is fourth in the SEC with his 19.1 scoring clip.
I.J. Ready is 54th nationally and 3rd in the SEC with his 2.7 assist/turnover ratio. He's now 203 points shy of becoming the 37th player in MSU history to score 1,000 for a career. Against UMKC, he had 5 assists to give him 335 for his career, now the 10th most in school history. In addition, he is 10 steals shy of tying Darryl Wilson for the 10th most in school history.
Quinndary Weatherspoon leads MSU with his 19.1 scoring average. MSU hasn't had a player average 18-plus since Darryl Wilson in 1996 (18.0).
KenPom.com has Mississippi State as the least experienced team (.73) of all 351 DI programs.
When is Mississippi State successful? When outrebounding foes (7-0) and winning or being tied at the half (8-0).
Of current SEC players, I.J. Ready is 11th with 797 points, third with 130 steals and fourth with335 assists.
In three games this season, MSU never trailed. The last was UMKC last week.
The Bulldogs are looking for their first four-game winning streak under Ben Howland.