Dogs can clinch share of SEC title with win over Auburn

By Staff
from special reports
March 2, 2004
STARKVILLE Looking to clinch at least a share of their first regular-season overall SEC title since 1990-91, the Southeastern Conference-leading Mississippi State Bulldogs play host to the Auburn Tigers tonight in a Super Tuesday ESPN telecast on "Senior Night" from the MSU campus.
Tipoff for the 121st series renewal of this SEC West rivalry is 8 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum.
Bulldog senior players Timmy Bowers, Branden Vincent, Lincoln Smith, Dennis Buse and Errol Bennett, along with senior manager Erick Casto, will all be honored during pre-game activities at "The Hump."
Ranked No. 5 nationally, coach Rick Stansbury's Bulldogs are 23-2 overall and 12-2 in league play after claiming their 11th consecutive road win overall and seventh straight SEC victory away from home this season with Saturday's hard-fought 72-69 triumph over the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville. Entering the final week of the regular season still one full game ahead of SEC East-leading Kentucky (21-4, 11-3) for the top spot in the overall league standings, MSU will next travel to Tuscaloosa for a 2 p.m. televised contest (JP Sports) against Alabama on Saturday.
Having now claimed back-to-back SEC West titles for the first time since 1994-95 and 1995-96, the Bulldogs last earned an overall league championship
by sharing the 1990-91 regular-season crown with LSU during the final season before the SEC went to divisional play following the additions of Arkansas and South Carolina to the league lineup.
Mississippi State last won an SEC regular-season championship outright more than 40 years ago, when coach Babe McCarthy's 1962-63 State squad closed out a successful five-year run with a fourth league title en route to playing in the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament.
This week, the Bulldogs will also be looking to become the first basketball team in school history to earn 25 wins during the regular season, in addition to bidding to set a new single-season standard for most SEC victories. McCarthy's 1958-59 and 1961-62 teams both went 24-1 overall and 13-1 in conference play. The current mark of 13 league wins is jointly held by five prior State squads and most recently accomplished by former MSU coach Richard Williams' 1990-91 SEC co-championship club with a 13-5 conference record.
Offensively, Mississippi State continues to lead the league in scoring offense (74.4 ppg), scoring margin (+10.4) and field-goal percentage (47.2%) for conference games only. Seeking to top the conference in rebounding margin for the fourth consecutive season, the Bulldogs are out-rebounding the opposition by an average of 7.2 boards per contest for all games on the year. In owning a 45-32 advantage on the boards in Saturday's three-point win at Vanderbilt, State has now out-boarded seven conference opponents by double figures this season.
Individually, the Bulldogs boast two legitimate first-team all-conference performers in junior forward/center Lawrence Roberts and senior guard Timmy Bowers. A national finalist for the Wooden, Naismith and Rupp Player of the Year Awards, Roberts registered his 14th double-double of the season and 36th of his career with 18 points and 14 rebounds this past weekend against Vanderbilt. MSU's SEC Player of the Year candidate ranks fourth in the league in scoring (17.3 ppg), second in rebounding (9.9 rpg) and sixth in field-goal percentage (54.7%). Bowers, a finalist for this year's inaugural Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award, stands among the SEC's top 12 leaders in scoring (15.2 ppg; 12th), assists (4.4 apg; 3rd), made 3-pointers per game (2.4 treys/gm; 5th), three-point percentage (36.0%; 10th), and steals (2.0 spg; 6th). MSU's all-time winningest hoops player is tied with current Golden State Warriors standout Erick Dampier for 14th place on the school's all-time chart with 1,231 points.
Guided by 29-year coaching veteran Cliff Ellis, in his 10th season on the Plains, the Auburn Tigers are 13-12 overall on the season and 4-10 in SEC play after dropping their third straight league decision by way of a 75-69 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers this past Saturday in Knoxville.
Minus the services of leading scorer (13.8 ppg) and rebounder (7.0 rpg) Marco Killingsworth, a 6-7, 235-pound junior forward, for Tuesday's MSU game
following his ejection from Saturday's Tennessee game for fighting, Auburn also features season double-figure scorers in fellow juniors Brandon Robinson (10.8 ppg) and Ian Young (10.0 ppg). Senior center Kyle Davis averages 6.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and an SEC-best 2.9 blocks per contest.