MSU vs Alabama

Overlooked for most of the season, Mississippi State entered the Southeastern Conference tournament unranked.  In the end, the Bulldogs were the only team standing.
Mario Austin scored 15 points and Michal Ignerski and Derrick Zimmerman added 13 apiece as Mississippi State held off eighth-ranked Alabama, 61-58, to claim just the second SEC tournament title in school history. Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury was asked why he thought his club was not ranked.

The Bulldogs (26-7) also tied a school record for wins, set in 1995-96, when they won their other SEC crown and reached the Final Four.

Mississippi State will take an eight-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament. The key to the Bulldogs’ late surge has been defense as they are allowing an average of only 57 points per game during the winning streak.

Mississippi State took two of three from Alabama this season, but beat the Crimson Tide for only the second time in eight SEC Tournament meetings. Its previous tournament
win came in 1933, when the Bulldogs posted a 30-25 win, which happened to be Sunday’s halftime score.

Mississippi State squandered a 10-point first half advantage as Alabama (26-7) rallied to take a 52-50 lead on Terrance Meade’s two foul shots with 4:42remaining.

But after Ignerski hit 1-of-2 from the line, Timmy Bowers and Zimmerman drilled consecutive 3-pointers, giving the Bulldogs a 57-52 lead with 2:42 remaining.

After Zimmerman’s layup gave Mississippi State a 59-54 lead, Alabama suffered a blow when Dudley hit his head on the ground was driving to the basket with 1:26 left. The
game was briefly delayed as medical personnel attended to Dudley, who was able to walk off the court unassisted and later returned.

Meade, who scored 17 points, came off the bench to hit both free throws and Grizzard made two more, bringing Alabama within 59-58 with 49 seconds left.

The Crimson Tide had a golden chance after Zimmerman missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 24 seconds left. But Alabama ran a disorganized possession and was unable to get off  good shot as freshman Maurice Williams launched a 5-footer that caromed off the front of the rim.

Mississippi State built a 30-20 lead on Austin’s two free throws with 4:28 left in the first half. But Grizzard scored the final five points of the half, bringing Alabama within
30-25 at the intermission.

The Crimson Tide tied the contest, 38-38, on Williams’ 3-pointer with 15:23 remaining. Neither team led by more than five thereafter.

The loss may have cost Alabama a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It also prevented Gottfried, a member of the Crimson Tide’s 1987 SEC championship team, from
winning league titles as a player and coach.

Keep it Up

South Carolina, 12-13 and 4-7 in the SEC, hosts Western Division leader Mississippi State, 17-8 and 8-3 in the SEC, on Sat., Feb. 22 at 4 pm. South Carolina, winners of the last two match-ups, won in Starkville last year by a tally of 66-63 on Jan. 27, 2007. First-team All-SEC guard Tre Kelley’s scored 23 points and Brandon Wallace tacked together a double-double (16 boards, 10 points).

USC is 3-0 vs. the SEC Western Division this season after defeating Alabama 67-65 behind Devan Downey’s 29 points on Sat., Feb. 16. MSU is on top of the SEC Western Division at 8-3 and are 2-1 vs. the SEC Eastern Division this season. They are playing their second of four out of four on the road in Columbia Saturday.

USC vs. MSU

Mississippi State leads the series record 10-8. The two only began play with each other in 1992 – the year USC joined the league. A few things about the rivalry:

Last Meeting: Feb. 24, 2007 (76-63 in Starkville, USC wins)

Last 5 Meetings: 3-2, USC

Last 10 Meetings: 5-5

Keep it up Leading the SEC in steals, with 3.3 overall, and more importantly in scoring, with 21.2 ppg in league games and 19.7 ppg in all games, Devan Downey, a Cousy finalist, enters the MSU game second in the country in steals after tying his career-best with seven steals vs. the Tide. He is also second in the SEC in assists and minutes played as well.

Downey is averaging a team-leading 19.7 ppg and 36.9 mpg starting all 25 games. Not just leading the team in scoring, Downey has tallied 18 4+ assist games this season.

He scored game-high 29 points (career-best 6 3 pointers), tying career-best with 7 steals in win over Alabama. His three-pointer + one made free throw with :14 on the block sealed the 67-65 win.

The South Carolina-Mississippi State game can be seen on Raycom Sports, Saturday, 4 pm

Race for the SEC

Their loss Saturday at Mississippi State dropped the Arkansas Razorbacks to two games behind the Bulldogs in the Southeastern Conference Western Division standings. But six games remain for both teams, and no Razorback is in the mood to simply hand the division title over to the Bulldogs.

Arkansas needs to pay attention to Pelphrey’s message, considering much-improved LSU comes to Fayetteville on Wednesday night. And if the Razorbacks do take care of the Tigers, they can put themselves in position to make a run at Mississippi State.

The Razorbacks (17-7, 6-4) and Bulldogs (17-7, 8-2) face quite similar SEC-finishing stretches. The combined SEC record of Arkansas’ final six opponents is 25-37. Mississippi State’s final six conference foes are a combined 25-34.

However, the Bulldogs travel for four of their final six games, while Arkansas plays three in Bud Walton Arena and three away from Fayetteville. Both teams will encounter Auburn and LSU on their home courts and Ole Miss in Oxford.

If Arkansas makes up the two-game gap to tie the Bulldogs, the determining tie-breaker will be division record because the teams split their season series. Right now, Arkansas is 5-1 against SEC Western Division teams, and Mississippi State is 6-1.

Pelphrey doesn’t want his team thinking about any of these scenarios. He wants the Razorbacks focusing on one game at a time, and he doesn’t care how much that sounds like coach-speak.

Arkansas senior Sonny Weems stood outside the Razorbacks’ locker room on Saturday in Starkville and insisted the Hogs were capable of concentrating on one contest at a time. Weems said the Razorbacks should worry more about constant effort than division standings.

WEDNESDAY’S TICKET

LSU AT ARKANSAS

WHEN: 8:00 p.m. TV: Raycom Sports

WHERE: Bud Walton Arena

RECORDS: LSU, 9-15, 2-8 Southeastern Conference; Arkansas, 17-7, 6-4

SERIES: Arkansas leads 28-17

LAST MEETING: Arkansas beat LSU 68-52 on Jan. 26 in Baton Rouge, La.

A+ for MSU thus far

In Mississippi State’s first big test of its Southeastern Conference season on Jan. 26, not only did it ace the exam, it tore it up and stomped on it.

The Bulldogs showed a versatility that will be hard to stop in their 88-68 win over then-No. 17 Ole Miss in front of a roaring 10,000-plus at soldout Humphrey Coliseum. Charles Rhodes’ 26 points backed up his talk from earlier

in the week and Jamont Gordon’s offensive effort was only outshined by his defensive effort on lightning-fast Ole Miss point guard Chris Warren.

But where does this leave Mississippi State, which has won nine straight and is bidding for its first 6-0 start in the SEC since 1961? It leaves the Bulldogs clicking on all cylinders, getting their best play from their star tandem of Rhodes and Gordon at the best time of the season.

Not only that, State is getting its best play of the year out of its bench. Coach Rick Stansbury didn’t have a bench when he went into early-season games against the likes of Clemson and Miami, but now he does. Even freshman Riley Benock hit four 3-pointers in the Jan. 26 win.

The hard part for State is that it will need to continue its top play for at least another week. The Bulldogs will head to Arkansas, where it has lost 14 of its last 16, and host the Southeastern Conference’s highest-ranked team, Tennessee.

The MSU vs Arkansas game will be aired on Raycom Sports, Wednesday, 8:00 PM ET.

Kentucky prepares for MSU

The first key to the game is the one that has plagued the Wildcats just about all year, and that is stopping the best player from the opposite team. That player tonight will be Junior Point Guard JaMont Gordon who leads Mississippi State in scoring, assists & steals. The Wildcats know all too well about Gordon, last season in the SEC tournament quarterfinals Gordon hit a last second game-tying three that sent the game into overtime and eventually led them to the win. The only time Kentucky has stopped the key player for the opponent this season was their last time out against Vandy when they held AJ Ogilvy in check. Sure enough they won the game and come into the game looking to prove the 2008 ‘Cats will be a new and improved version from that of 2007.

The second key to the game for Kentucky will be controlling the boards. Mississippi State is tied for the league lead with 42.6 RPG and they like to score off rebounds in the open floor. Kentucky out rebounded Vanderbilt by over 20 and that was the main reason for that victory. If Kentucky wins the rebounding battle they will no doubt be in the game no matter what they are doing on the offensive end.

The third and final key for the Wildcats in their game tonight will be keeping up the aggressivness on the offensive end. Kentucky looked as though they took Vandy by suprise by attacking the bakets with their guards and executing plays very well. Kentucky ran the ball up the floor and looked to score strongly rather than pull it out and play slow. If UK tries to play slow they will get beat because that will be playing right into the Bulldogs’ game plan.