Rising to the occasion is nothing new for Mississippi State University seniors Jarvis Varnado and Barry Stewart. The duo has broken numerous MSU records, captured three SEC West championships and won an SEC Tournament championship in their four years together.
On Saturday, they will play their final game in Humphrey Coliseum against Tennessee, who is No. 19 in this week’s Associated Press poll.
After Wednesday night’s 89-80 loss to Auburn, winning Saturday’s game is a must if they want to remain in consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The senior night ceremonies will be special for Varnado and Stewart, who are both Tennessee natives.
Varnado jokingly said on Monday that he will keep Stewart from getting too teary-eyed before the game.
“My job on Saturday is to keep [Stewart] from crying.” Varnado said, with Stewart sitting beside him. “It’s gonna be real emotional, but it’s gonna be good playing our home state for senior night. It’s gonna be great to win that game and go out on top, beating our home state.”
Last week against Alabama, they both made their marks on the record books.
Varnado became the all-time NCAA blocked shots leader, while Stewart put his name at the top of the list of career three-pointers made in MSU history.
They are also tied, with each other, for the lead in numbers of games played at MSU with 135. Stewart is eighth on the list of points scored in MSU history with 1,529, while Varnado is 15th with 1,313 as a Bulldog.
In his career at MSU, Varnado’s offensive production has increased every season.
He averaged 5 points per game as a freshman, 7.9 points as a sophomore, 12.9 as a sophomore and is averaging 13.5 points per game in his senior campaign.
Head coach Rick Stansbury said his output opens up other aspects of the Bulldogs’ offense.
“Y’all know as many three’s as we shoot, anytime we can take that ball in the post and get easy baskets or score there, helps our team,” Stansbury said. “Going into the post, three things happen: getting to the foul line, you get some easy baskets, or you get some open 3’s on the perimeter. All three of those things have happened a little bit more in the past games.”
With the Bulldogs fighting for a berth in the NCAA Tournament, Varnado’s scoring has increased at the right time. He has averaged 16 points per game over the last four games. Varnado said the improvement of his offense is due to better team play on the court.
“I think we’ve just been playing together, sharing the ball, getting it to the open guy,” he said. “That’s what we need coming down the stretch.”
Because of Saturday’s loss to Auburn, who has an RPI of 148, the Bulldogs are now looking on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, and need a win over Tennessee to impress the selection committee.
Defeating Tennessee will not be an easy task for Stansbury’s club. Many pundits and experts wrote off Tennessee after five players were indefinitely suspended and star forward Tyler Smith was dismissed from the team following gun and drug charges on Jan. 8. Since then the Volunteers have remained in the top 20 in the polls, and knocked off second -ranked Kentucky on Saturday.
Stewart said with all the emotion surrounding the game, it will take focus for the Bulldogs to get the upset in the season finale.
“There’s gonna be emotions everywhere, gonna be hype for the game, of course playing your home state,” Stewart said. “It would be a good win for us to show the committee. It’s gonna be a lot of emotion, gonna take a lot of focus that game.”
Varnado, a Brownsville, Tenn., native, said anytime he plays against teams from Tennessee, it is a big deal.
“You know, you always get up for your home state,” he said. “I don’t care who the player is, you always get up for your home state. You got something to prove against your home state.”