The MSU men’s basketball team will host the Auburn Tigers Saturday still looking for their second conference win. Auburn will be the first of three consecutive home games for the Bulldogs.
MSU (10-6, 1-2) comes into Saturday’s game looking to rebound after a tough 64-60 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats.
The loss marked the Bulldogs’ 10th straight SEC road loss.
The Tigers, led by second-year head coach Jeff Lebo, enter this weekend’s match-up after a busy week.
The Tigers hosted Tennessee Wednesday night, upsetting them 83-80.
Auburn faced LSU in Baton Rouge and narrowly lost 65-63.
Auburn forced LSU into 18 turnovers and scored 14 points off those turnovers.
The undersized Tigers held All-American center Glen Davis to just 11 points.
The Tigers are led by sophomore point guard Rasheem Barrett, who averages 15 points per game for the season, and forward Josh Dollard, who ranks at the top of the league in blocked shots, averaging two blocks per game.
The Bulldogs, however, get the week to rest up and prepare for the Tigers.
As nice as the rest is, though, head coach Rick Stansbury wishes the bye week had happened later.
“I wish we didn’t have a bye this soon in the season,” Stansbury said during his weekly teleconference. “You kind of like to have a bye a little bit later, but that’s where it falls. We’re going to use this week to focus on getting better.”
The team will also use this week to improve in some areas, he added.
“We’ll use this week to individually get better, whether it’s conditioning or free throw shooting,” he said. “We’re going to work to improve as a team as well.”
Saturday will mark the first meeting between the two schools this season and the 126th meeting overall.
During their last meeting in Starkville, the Bulldogs won 71-53.
That victory marked the ninth win in 11 games for the Bulldogs against the Tigers, dating back to the 2000-2001 season.
The Bulldogs won those nine games by an average of 23 points per game.
The Bulldogs have the league’s sixth-best scoring offense, averaging 76 points per game.
State also owns the league’s sixth-ranked scoring defense.
Auburn is 10th in the league in scoring offense and scoring defense.
Individually, sophomore swing man Jamont Gordon ranks among the league’s elite in scoring – seventh in the league at 15 points per game), rebounding (7.5 – 8th in the league) and assists (4.8- fourth in the league).
Continuing to find his groove in conference play, junior Charles Rhodes averages 12 points and seven rebounds per game.
Freshman sensation Barry Stewart ranks 8th in the conference in 3-point shooting (.404) and second on the team in steals (15).
Stewart was also voted SEC Freshman of the Week.