Bulldogs Look To Bounce Back At LSU

Saturday, January 7

Baton Rouge, La.

2:30 PM

Mississippi State

LSU

Mario Kegler led MSU with 12 points and 7 rebounds against Alabama.

Bulldogs Look To Bounce Back At LSU

January 06, 2017 | Men's Basketball

MSU Game Notes LSU Game Notes SEC Notes

STARKVILLE, Miss. – After opening SEC play with a 68-58 home setback to Alabama, Mississippi State encounters its first true road test of the season when it travels to LSU on Saturday.

Tip is set for 2:30 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, with Richard Cross and Jarvis Hayes 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 9-4 on the season, 0-1 in league play. Against the Tide, Mario Kegler paced the Bulldogs 12 points and 7 rebounds, while Tyson Carter added 10 points.

The Tigers enters the contest 9-4, 1-1, following their 88-77 win at Missouri on Wednesday.

THE SERIES
LSU leads the all-time series 109-98 and has won four in a row in Baton Rouge.

COACHES
Ben Howland is in his second year at MSU and 21^st overall. As a head coach in four different stops, he is 424-227 with a 23-21 mark with the Bulldogs.

Johnny Jones is in his fifth year at LSU and owns a 89-55 ledger. Overall, he's 294-217 in 17 years.

QUOTABLE
"Coming off a disappointing loss to Alabama, we have to turn our attention toward LSU quickly. It's never easy on the road, and we know we will be challenged. They have great play inside and out, and they are coming off a great win at Missouri." — Ben Howland on LSU.

NEXT 2
Jan. 10 on the road at Arkansas before returning home to face Texas A&M on Jan. 14.

BULLDOG BITES

This is the first true road game for Mississippi State this year.
LSU has won five of the last six in this series and four in a row in Baton Rouge (by an average of just 9.0). MSU's last win at LSU was in 2011, 58-57.
The Bulldogs have lost three-straight SEC road openers, with their last win coming at Georgia in 2012. However, they are 5-5 the last 10 years.
Last season, MSU was 2-7 on the road in league play.
After shooting 50 percent or better in back-to-back games, the Bulldogs shot .365 against Alabama and made a season-low 19 field goals. Also a season low were the 58 points.
Despite scoring a season-low 7 points against Alabama, sophomore guard Quinndary Weatherspoon is fourth in the SEC with his 18.0 scoring clip. MSU hasn't had a player average 18-plus since Darryl Wilson in 1996 (18.0).
I.J. Ready is 48th nationally and 3rd in the SEC with his 2.7 assist/turnover ratio. He's now 197 points shy of becoming the 37th player at MSU to score 1,000 for a career. Against Alabama, he had 3 assists to give him 338 for his career, now the 10th most in school history. In addition, he is 8 steals shy of tying Darryl Wilson for the 10th most in school history.
KenPom.com has Mississippi State as the second least experienced team 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 803 points, third with 132 steals and fourth with 338 assists.
Through 13 games, sophomore forward Aric Holman leads MSU with 30 blocked shots. Since Jarvis Varnado had 170 in 2010 as a senior, the most in a single season has been Colin Borchert with 36 in 2013.
Schnider Herard drew his first-career start against Alabama and had 4 points and 5 rebounds.
Mississippi State has now used five different starting lineups through the first 13 games.