Mississippi State hopes to stay on roll against Tide
By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
Feb. 21, 2004
Humphrey Coliseum has been a den of horrors for Alabama in the last five basketball seasons.
Since the Rick Stansbury era began at Mississippi State University in 1998, the Crimson Tide have not won a game on the Bulldogs homecourt.
Alabama and MSU have split the home-and-home series over the last four seasons, and the Bulldogs, who enter the game sporting a 21-1 overall mark and 10-1 in the Southeastern Conference, was the last team to sweep the series in the 1998-99 season.
The Tide (12-10, 4-7 SEC) has been challenged all season, as the team has tried to rebuild from losing a plethora of players at the end of the 2002-03 campaign.
Alabama enters the game coming off a 70-67 loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday.
Though the Tide has struggled at times, Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said his team is playing hard every time out.
Alabama trailed Vanderbilt 30-9 with just over nine minutes to play in the first half, but the Tide fought back to pull even with the Commodores at 60 with just under five minutes to play.
Along with gritting play, the Tide also come equipped with one of the deadliest perimeter games in college basketball.
Alabama is averaging nearly seven three-pointers a game, and the Tide is knocking down 38 percent of their shots from behind the arc.
Of course, MSU is no slouch in the scoring department.
The Bulldogs are ranked second in the SEC in scoring, averaging 76 points per game. MSU's Lawrence Roberts is tied for fourth in scoring, with LSU's Jamie Lloreda, averaging 17.2 per game, and guard Timmy Bowers is scoring 15.3 points a game.
MSU may be shorthanded in the game that will be nationally televised on CBS. Reserve guard Gary Ervin is questionable for the contest.
The freshman point guard, who has averaged 19 minutes per game, injured his back last Saturday in a road win over Arkansas.
Ole Miss (12-10, 4-7 SEC) will take on a wounded opponent in Florida (14-8, 5-6 SEC) at 7 tonight.
The Gators, who at one time held the No. 1 ranking, have fallen out of the polls, lost a star player in Christian Drejer and have dropped six of their last nine games.
Ole Miss has lost just one game at Tad Smith Coliseum this season, MSU beat the Rebels 61-54 on Jan. 7. Since the loss, the Rebels have reeled off five straight home wins.
The University of Southern Mississippi wraps up a two-game homestand today against foe that has been a thorn in the Golden Eagles' side for a long time the Charlotte 49ers.
Charlotte (16-6, 8-3 Conference USA), which is tied with Cincinnati and DePaul for third place in the conference, owns a 24-4 series lead over USM (12-10, 5-6 C-USA).
The Eagles are set to tip off against the 49ers at 4 p.m.
In Southwestern Athletic Conference play around the state, Mississippi Valley State will try to improve on its conference-best record of 11-2 in a home contest Texas Southern (11-11, 7-5 SWAC).
The Delta Devils, who are 17-6 overall, are scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m today.
Jackson State (10-12, 8-5 SWAC) will try to rebound from a loss to Texas Southern on Monday, in a road game against Grambling State (8-15, 6-7 SWAC). The Tigers are set to tip off at 7:30 p.m today.
Alcorn State (8-14, 7-6 SWAC) will try to continue to climb in the conference standings in an 8 p.m. road game against Alabama State (8-13, 6-6 SWAC) today.
