Bulldogs Open Regular Season With 64-48 Win Over Chattanooga
Via Media Relations
Dietric Slater scored a career-high 20 points and Jamall Edmondson had 13 for Mississippi State in a 64-48 win Saturday night over Chattanooga.
It was the season opener for both schools.
Edmondson made a jumper in the key to end the first half and give Mississippi State a 32-26 halftime lead after the Bulldogs trailed midway through the opening period. The basket came during a 27-6 run that extended from late in the first half into the second.
Charles Rhodes began the run on a dunk off a missed free-throw to tie the score at 26 with 2:06 remaining in the opening half. The spurt allowed Mississippi State to coast to coach Rick Stansbury’s 150th career victory.
Slater put Mississippi State up by 22 points, 55-33, on a layup off a fastbreak with 9:00 remaining. Slater eclipsed his previous career-high of 11 points against Auburn on Feb. 5, 2005.
Mississippi State has won 17 of its past 20 season openers.
Chattanooga held an 18-13 lead after Kedrick Mays’ 3-pointer with 8:44 left in the first half. The Mocs had the lead until Rhodes’ dunk. Rhodes finished with 12 points.
Casey Long led Chattanooga with 11 points. The Mocs shot just 30.8 percent from the field. Jaycen Herring added 10 points and Alphonso Pugh had 13 rebounds.
POSTGAME QUOTES
MSU Head Coach Rick Stansbury
Opening Comments:
“I just told our guys that we have been in a lot of big wins over the years, but I’m not for sure that I’m even more prouder of a group of guys than this group tonight. Not by just winning the game, but by the way we had to win it by overcoming so many things. Number one, Chattanooga is a very good basketball team, for those of you who don’t know it. They were an NCAA team last year with a lot of those guys back from last year. We have not had Jamall Edmondson for two weeks and we lose Richard Delk on Thursday. Jamall (Edmondson) stepped up and we made a decision to play a lot of zone for that one reason because, of him not being able to move and depth.”
On Richard Delk’s status:
“We won’t know for sure, probably the bare minimum of two weeks or more.
On opening the game in a 2-3 zone:
“I told my coaches, for the first time since I’ve been here, that is the first time I opened in a zone and it worked for us.”
On Delk’s injury:
“They call it a hot spot. It is the next thing to a stress fracture.”
On Dietric Slater’s performance:
“It’s much more positive than it has been. I thought he finished plays much better tonight. When you look at his stat sheet and you are 9-for-13 that’s pretty good stats. We never question his effort; we all know what we question and he limited those tonight. He played to exhaustion and he finished plays – that is what we need him doing.
Chattanooga Head Coach John Shulman
Opening Comments:
“I’m really impressed with what Mississippi State did tonight. They came out and really surprised us by playing a 2-3 zone. With those long-ranged athletes, they’re pretty good at what they’re doing. They’re very difficult to play against. Their freshmen played very well. Ours looked scared to death. Six assists and 24 turnovers against a zone is not a real good night for us. We did some things decent defensively and on the glass.”
POSTGAME NOTES
* Tonight marked Rick Stansbury’s 150th career victory as head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs… In his eighth season at the State helm, Stansbury now owns a career coaching mark of 150-75 (66.7 winning percentage).
* The Bulldogs are now 6-2 in season openers during the Rick Stansbury era… Overall, MSU has won 17 of its last 20 basketball season openers dating back to the 1986-87 campaign.
* The Bulldogs are now 7-1 in home season openers during the Rick Stansbury era… Overall, Mississippi State has now prevailed in 38 of its last 40 home lid-lifters dating back to the 1966-67 season… One of those home-opening setbacks was an 85-73 loss to Tennessee-Chattanooga during the 1991-92 campaign.
* During the Rick Stansbury era (since 1998-99), the Bulldogs are now 80-19 (.808) overall against non-conference competition; 42-3 (.933) versus non-SEC opponents at Humphrey Coliseum; 84-17 (.832) overall at home; and 27-5 (.844) overall in games played during the month of November.
* Playing their first three games of the season during a five-day period (Nov. 19-23), the Bulldogs stay at home to play host to the Arkansas State Indians of the Sun Belt Conference Monday night (7 p.m.) at Humphrey Coliseum… MSU then puts its 14-game non-SEC road winning streak, which dates back to Dec. 30, 2000, on the line by playing at Charlotte Wednesday night (Nov. 23).
* Arkansas State will mark the first of three Sun Belt Conference teams that MSU will play host to this season… The University of New Orleans and Troy University visit Starkville on Nov. 30 and Dec. 10, respectively.
* The 48 points by Chattanooga were the fewest by an MSU opponent since State’s 55-48 win over Birmingham-Southern during last year’s Coaches vs. Cancer Classic regional championship game in Birmingham… The 48 points were the fewest scored by an MSU foe in Starkville since the Bulldogs claimed a 67-45 home win over Auburn on March 8, 2003.
* Freshman swingman Jamont Gordon became the second Bulldog player during the Rick Stansbury era to earn a starting assignment during his collegiate debut… Former McDonald’s All-American and all-SEC standout Mario Austin scored 16 points at Cal during the opening round of the 2000 TiVo Preseason NIT in his freshman debut for the Bulldogs.
* Making his first career collegiate start, junior swingman Dietric Slater scored a career-high 20 points, bettering his previous best of 11 points at Auburn last season… Slater also grabbed a career-high six rebounds, bettering his previous mark of five boards set eight prior times.
* Sophomore forward Charles Rhodes recorded career highs for points (12) and rebounds (8)… Senior center Wesley Morgan matched his career high for rebounds (8) set previously last year versus Georgia during the SEC Tournament.
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