The Bulldogs are looking for their third win in a row and their second consecutive Southeastern Conference road win as they come off their midweek outing, a 71-64 win over LSU.

“It’s never easy going on the road, and Florida is certainly one of those places that has proven to be difficult to play,” said MSU head coach Rick Stansbury. “We can’t get caught up in the crowd, and at the same time, we know we have to be at our best to have a chance.”

State (17-4 overall, 4-2 SEC) has had success in recent years over the Gators winning four out of their last five meetings and two of the last four in Gainesville.

Florida (16-4, 4-1) picked up a road win of its own as they defeated Ole Miss 64-60 on Thursday night rallying from 16 points down. The victory was the fourth consecutive win for Billy Donovan’s club after opening conference play with a loss to Georgia.

The Gators are primarily a guard-oriented team with junior Kenny Boynton leading the way averaging 18 points an outing while freshman guard Bradley Beal adds 13.9 points per game.

The Bulldogs will offset the guard play with senior point guard Dee Bost who is averaging 16 points per game to go with 4.7 assists.

The x-factor in this contest could prove to be MSU forward Arnett Moultrie who has been on fire in his last two outings.

For the season, Moultrie leads the league with 12 double-doubles and averages 17.1 points per game and 11.2 rebounds (a league best). Over his last two games, he is averaging 24.5 points and has claimed 28 rebounds.

Mississippi State has been short of depth this season but that hasn’t seemed to bother the Bulldogs of late.

Three of State’s players are the leaders in minutes played for the SEC and Bost, freshman Rodney Hood, and Moultrie log an average of 34.9, 34.2 and 34.1 minutes, respectively.

After today, MSU is off for a week before returning to action Feb. 4 at home against Auburn.

The Bulldogs are looking to build on the success of a 2011 season that saw them make a run into NCAA Super Regional play, and they had a near perfect day to get started.

“Wow, it was a great day,” said MSU head coach John Cohen. “We had over 300 coaches here for our coaching clinic and we had great weather for our first day of practice.”

As expected the Bulldogs dominated from the mound. The Bulldogs sent eight pitchers to the mound who combined for a five-hit shutout.

“Some of our better guys were on the mound today,” said Cohen. “We were letting them throw 20-pitch innings. When you know you’re going to get one inning to pitch and that’s going to be it for a week, that’s a pretty comforting feeling in terms of giving it your best shot.”

Ben Bracewell, who is healthy following surgery, opened the action and after allowing two batters to reach base, he shut down the Bulldog bats. The hard throwing righty pitched two solid innings of shutout baseball.

Like Bracewell, Chris Stratton pitched two innings of work and as you might expect, he was crisp, keeping hitters off balance.

Tim Statz, who has gone to a submarine throwing motion and Caleb Reed closed out the scrimmage in dominating fashion, but it was the performance of the new faces that showed promise.

Will Cox, Trevor Fitts, Brandon Woodruff, and Jacob Lingren all pitched an inning and showed potential.

As Cohen indicated prior to practice, the coaching staff won’t force the young pitchers to do more than they are ready for, but they could prove to be ready sooner rather than later.

“Our velocity was really good and our kids were excited,” Cohen said. “We’ve got a long way to go and when that adrenaline starts dying down, it becomes more about execution. Those are the things we are going to work really hard on the next three weeks.”

Overall the MSU coaches were pleased with the production of the five-inning scrimmage and with the overall makeup of the 2012 squad.

“You spent the whole first semester trying to get to understand what the expectation is going to be at practice,” Cohen said. “We came out here and they were locked in. We’ve got the right kids in our program. We are really pleased with the kids we have. We’ve just got to get them some experience.”

Mississippi State will return to the diamond today at 12:30 p.m. and once again on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The Bulldogs open the season on Feb. 17 against Washington State.

State’s coach couldn’t have been more right on Wednesday night as the Bulldogs held off a late barrage of Tiger 3-pointers to win 76-71.

The Bulldogs (17-4 overall, 4-2 SEC) were up by 10 points late in the contest when Andre Stringer made his only two three’s of the evening to give the Tigers (12-8, 2-4) a fighting chance. Anthony Hickey joined in the fun with a couple long-range bombs of his own and the Bulldogs were left with a fight on their hands and wondering should they foul the hot-shooting Tigers.

“The shots they hit, we weren’t thinking about fouling them,” said Stansbury. “Now, with 12 seconds left and up by three we were prepared to foul. When we got it over half court, we were going to foul there.”

Fouls wouldn’t be necessary when Arnett Moultrie was the recipient of a pass off a Dee Bost steal, leading to Moultrie being sent to the foul line to shoot two, plus a pair of free throws stemming from a Trent Johnson technical foul.

The Bulldog forward picked up his 28th point of the evening and sealed the MSU victory.

“We made the plays when we had to make the plays,” said Stansbury. “I didn’t think we had our edge tonight and that’s what this league is about. You’re not going to have your edge every night, but you’ve got to find a way to survive when you’re not at your best.”

While the Bulldogs may not have been at their collective best, parts of the team were exceptional.

Moultrie picked up his 12th double-double of the season with 28 points and 12 rebounds. He was simply a dominating force for the Bulldogs. He put the game on his shoulders in the second half scoring 19 points when MSU needed him the most.

Coming off what Stansbury said was his best game of the season, Bost may have been better against the Tigers.

The senior guard neared a triple-double with nine points, seven rebounds, and 10 assists.

“I really wasn’t trying to look to score, I was trying to get my assists up,” said Bost who already holds the schools all-time assist mark. “Coach told me to try to get 10 assists and so that’s what I did.”

Jalen Steele also continued ‘feeling it’ Wednesday night for the Bulldogs. The young sophomore was the second-leading scorer for MSU with 15 points, three of which were 3-point baskets.

Freshman Rodney Hood also had a key contribution to the game as he buried two free throws to keep the State lead at three with under a minute to play.

“He stepped to the free-throw line there late in the game and made a couple of shots,” said Stansbury of Hood, who had 13 points and five rebounds. “That’s the kind of poise he’s got.”

The Tigers made shots late, shooting 52.4 percent from 3-point range, but they simply didn’t get a second chance. The Tigers managed just six second chance points due to being out rebounded 46-26.

“That’s the stat that saved us,” said Stansbury.

Moultrie agreed.

“I just think my athleticism and quickness bothered them,” he said. “They had me boxed out but with my quickness, they couldn’t seal me off and I got to those loose balls.”

For the game, the Tigers were led in scoring by Stringer with 17, Hickey 16, and Justin Hamilton with 11.

Mississippi State will return to the road on Saturday to face the No. 14 Florida Gators on the SEC Network.

State (16-4 overall, 3-2 SEC) is looking to continue its improved play after earning the 78-77 overtime road victory over Vanderbilt last Saturday. LSU (12-7, 2-3) on the other hand will be looking to bounce back following a 76-64 setback at the hands of the Florida Gators.

“Anytime you can win on the road it is special. It isn’t easy to do,” said MSU head coach Rick Stansbury. “But like all games, it counts as one win. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. It is a good accomplishment but it just counts as one win. We’ve got to just get ready for the next one. We’ve got a tough one (tonight) and another one on Saturday.”

The Tigers are looking for their first road win in the SEC and they’ll rely on a 7-footer in Justin Hamilton in their attempt to get it. For the season, Hamilton paces his team with 14.1 points per game while adding 7.5 rebounds.

“They are just as talented as anyone,” said Stansbury, who has won four out of the last five against the Tigers. “They have great post depth. Justin Hamilton is as good of a post player there is in this league. He went to Florida and scored 27. He is the one difference for their team. They can throw it in the paint or throw it to the short corners, and Hamilton can score in a lot of different ways.”

It’s not all low-post action for the Tigers either. Sophomore guard, Andre Stringer is averaging 10.4 points per game.

The Bulldogs will counter with one of the hottest tandems in the conference in Dee Bost and Arnett Moultrie.

The duo, along with Renardo Sidney, carried State to its first SEC road win last Saturday.

Moultrie paces the league with 11 double-doubles after scoring 21 points and claiming 14 rebounds against the Commodores. Bost added 24 points while having what Stansbury tabbed as his best game of the season.

The x-factor last Saturday was the five 3-point effort by sophomore Jalen Steele.

The Bulldogs will turn to him once again against the Tigers.

“I’ve always said that Jalen is the one guy that does something different on this basketball team,” said Stansbury. “He is capable of doing what he did, jump up and make shots. He’s the one guy, if you ask me what his role is… it is to make shots.”

The tip is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on the SEC Network, with Clay Matvick and Joe Dean Jr. handling the broadcast.

Why?

The first Wednesday in February is an unofficial holiday for virtually all college football fans, National Signing Day.  That’s the day college programs across the country learn which high school athletes have selected their university as home for the next few years of their life.

It’s a great day because no one can be proven wrong and everybody can have an opinion as to who has the best signing class.  It is just another day to hype college football and start dreaming of the fall afternoons we love so much.

Now, if you’re a Mississippi State fan you’re anxiously waiting to see how Dan Mullen and the Bulldogs are going to close the 2012 signing class.   Well with a week remaining here’s my best guess…

Currently the Bulldogs have 25 commitments with the recent commitment of A.J. Jefferson the talented defensive end from North Pike High School. And will sign as many as 28 when all is said and done with this year’s class of recruits.

With that being said, I feel the top candidate for the remaining spots in this year’s MSU class would be Long Beach High School linebacker Richie Brown and Florence Ala receiver Beniquez Brown.   There is also a better than average shot for the Bulldogs to add a third signee to the list in Lafayette County quarterback Jeremy Liggins.

Mississippi State is certainly in need of adding a quarterback to this year’s class and Liggins is at the top of the list.   Now, in order to have room for the talented QB the numbers will have to work out because they can sign no more than 28 prospects in any one class.  However, this shouldn’t be a major hurdle due to the likelihood of having one or two grade causalities in this year’s signing class.

When all is said and done, I expect State fans to be pleased with this year’s signing class.  The Bulldogs have addressed their needs along the line of scrimmage, both offensively and defensively, and they’ve added playmakers at the skill positions.

So, with one week remaining you’ve got time to turn in your request off form to your boss, or simply start planting the seeds that say “I may be sick next Wednesday”.   Either way you’ll want to be around your computer in order to constantly hit the refresh button to learn the latest scoop on signing day.  Just tell your boss you might as well be off because you’re not going to get any work done anyway.  After all it is an unofficial holiday!

Carr missed the last month of the regular season as well as the team’s victory overWakeForestin the Music City Bowl for unspecified personal reason. During the season however he had 11 catches for 164 yards and a touchdown in eight games.

The talentedWest Pointnative will be a welcome addition to the MSU roster as he is going through his conditioning program and is expected to be back with the team for spring practice.

After shooting 28 percent from the floor in the first half Mississippi State connected on their first seven shots from 3-point range on its way to shooting 88.9 percent from beyond the arc in the second half.

For the game, the Bulldogs were 10-of-20 from the land of three and shot 43.5 percent from the floor.

Sidney impacts with defense

State found itself in an 11-point hole after losing Renardo Sidney for the majority of the first half after he picked up two quick fouls to open the contest.

However, the MSU center did his part in the second half as he used his defense to impact the ballgame keeping Festus Ezeli in check.

“He made a huge difference,” said Dee Bost. “From the stats, it might not look like he had a huge game, but he had a huge game on the defensive end and that’s what we need. He shut Festus Ezeli down.”

For the game, Sidney had nine points and just one rebound but held Ezeli to just four second half points, proving to be the difference in the game.

Winning at the foul line

Mississippi State took full advantage of attacking the basket and getting to the foul line.

Coach Rick Stansbury credits this aspect of the Bulldogs’ game as the difference in the outcome.

“The one stat that is a huge stat for us,” said Stansbury. “This is one stat that tells you we were pretty good. It has probably never happened in this place. They shoot nine free throws and make five and we shoot 21 free throws. That tells you that the ball is being drove to the paint and we weren’t playing with silly fouls. You’ve got to do that to win on the road.”

That series enabled MSU to defeat the Vanderbilt Commodores 78-77 in overtime.

The No. 18 Bulldogs mounted a monumental comeback as it took them just 2:16 in the opening moments of the second half to erase an 11-point halftime deficit and turn it into an 18-2 run that pushed the State lead to five before the first media timeout.

The Bulldogs made their first seven 3-point attempts of the second half including four from Jalen Steele who was in his words, ‘feeling it.’

“I just knew we needed buckets,” said Steele who added 15 points, 12 points in the second half. “In the beginning of the game, I was just feeling it. The coaches told me to just go out there and shoot it.  I kept my confidence and just kept shooting.”

Bost, who scored a game-high 24 including the game winning bucket on a play the Bulldogs hadn’t run all year.

“Coach designed that play in the huddle, we hadn’t ran it all year,” said Bost. “He designed it because they had a taller guy guarding me and Sid (Sidney) set it up perfectly and after the backdoor I had a wide open layup.”

The layup gave State the one-point advantage, but it far from secured the win.

State had to make a defensive stand to hold off the Commodores after both Bost and Arnett Moultrie missed the front end of a 1-and-1 situation.

“That’s up to me and Arnett, we’re supposed to make those free throws,” said Bost. “We missed them but we knew we had to suck it up and play hard defense.”

Their defense stood tall on back-to-back trips down the floor leading to a John Jenkins shot at the buzzer that was off the mark, preserving the MSU victory.

“It was our ability to defend that won the game for us,” said MSU head coach Rick Stansbury. “I thought our guys took on the challenge. We were pretty good defensively, we played hard.”

The Bulldogs lost Sidney to early foul trouble less than 2 minutes into the game.

From that point, they played virtually a man short, but somehow managed to stay in the game.

“We weren’t down too many points,” said Steele. “We didn’t look at it as a big margin. We knew that we were going to come back and make this a tough game for Vanderbilt and that’s what we did.”

With Sidney on the floor in the second half, the Bulldogs went to work taking the game to the Commodores before they closed with a 10-point run including a 3-point basket from Jenkins to tie the game at 68-68 sending the contest into overtime.

“What was tough was, we had this game in regulation, but give Vanderbilt credit, they jumped up and made two huge 3s,” said Stansbury. “We came into that timeout having the game won and now having to figure out how to go play five more minutes. That’s not easy to do.”

In the overtime period, Moultrie carried the Bulldogs by design.

“I thought we went to war with Arnett in overtime,” Stansbury said. “We really wanted to get him the ball.”

Moultrie scored five of State’s nine points in overtime as part of his 21 for the evening. He also picked up 14 rebounds to give him his 11th double-double of the season.

For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 27 of 62 shots from the field (43.5 percent), 10 of 20 shots from 3-point range (50.0 percent) and 14 of 21 shots from the foul line (66.7 percent). The Commodores hit 29 of 60 shots from the field (48.3 percent), 14 of 27 shots from 3-point range (51.9 percent) and 5 of 9 shots from the foul line (55.6 percent).

Vanderbilt received 21 points from Jenkins, 19 points from Jeffery Taylor, 12 points from Festus Ezeli and 12 points from Lance Goulbourne.
State will host LSU at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Humphrey Coliseum.

Nashville, Tenn., was the site of the most recent football success for MSU after winning the Music City Bowl against Wake Forest in December.

For the Bulldogs to pull off a Southeastern Conference win there in basketball against the Commodores, they’ll have to deal with Memorial Gymnasium, one of the more unique settings in college basketball.

“There’s no question Vanderbilt is one of the more difficult places to play in the country,” said MSU coach Rick Stansbury, who is 10-8 all-time against the Commodores. “That setup makes it very difficult, but you know that going in. But more than the setup is the fact Vanderbilt is a very good team. It’s going to be a challenge.”

Vanderbilt enters the game carrying a 14-4 record and a perfect conference mark of 4-0.

The Commodores, who are also riding an eight-game win streak after opening the season 6-4, are coming off a complete dismantling of Alabama on Thursday night in a game that ended 69-59 but was truly never that close.

State fans remember all too well the performances from John Jenkins and Jeffery Taylor in last season’s showdown in Starkville.

The duo remains red-hot as they are averaging 19.8 (tops in the SEC) and 16.9 points per game respectively.

When you consider that Bulldogs Arnett Moultrie and Dee Bost are fourth and fifth in the league with 16.1 and 16.0 points per game, the game will feature four of the top five scorers in the conference.

Moultrie also remains tied for the league lead with 10 double-doubles and remains atop all SEC rebounders with an 11 rebound average.

“We just got to bounce back,” said Bost, who took the midweek loss hard. “We didn’t have one of our better games at Ole Miss, and now it’s time to redeem ourselves.”

The Bulldogs (15-4, 2-2) have dropped two-straight to Vanderbilt and three in a row in Memorial Gymnasium. Their last win there came in 2004 (72-69) after claiming a 66-43 in 2002.

The tip in Nashville is set for 6 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2 with Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes handling the broadcast.

First it was the loss in the lidlifter at Arkansas 98-88 and Wednesday night, the Bulldogs fell to their rivals to the north 75–68.

“It has come down to toughness,” said State’s freshman forward Rodney Hood, who scored 13 for the Bulldogs. “We haven’t been playing our type of basketball on the road.”

Down the stretch Mississippi State had opportunities but couldn’t get the stops it needed to close the game.

The Bulldogs had clawed their way back into a game in which they had trailed by double digits in. At the 2:18 mark, State trailed by just three but could do no more.

Missed opportunities on the offensive end (0-for-6 shooting) and lack of stops on the defensive end led to the frustrating MSU loss.

“We simply have to get stops consecutively,” said Hood, who watched as Ole Miss scored 36 points in the paint against MSU. “They’ve been getting to the basket too easy on us and we’ve got to get that stopped.”

Stansbury agreed that his team had their chances but winning on the road continues to prove to be a difficult task.

“We had our chances there late in the game,” said Stansbury. “With 2 and a half minutes to go it was a three-point game and then Arnett (Moultrie) misses a putback, a bunny around the rim that would have been a big basket.

“It is a fine line against a very good team that played really well tonight. Anywhere you go on the road it is difficult. This is a good team and a difficult place to play and they had them both going.”