Following a disappointing 88-74 season-opening loss to Rider last Friday, Mississippi State returns to the court on Thursday, hosting Southeastern Louisiana in a 7 p.m. tip at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Bulldogs haven’t opened the year 0-2 since the 1967-68 campaign and haven’t lost back-to-back home games in nearly two years.
“We are going to play a very good Southeastern Louisiana team Thursday night,” 12th-year MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. “A team that has a bunch of guys that can shoot it. They have great depth.”
The Lions travel to Starkville sporting a 2-0 ledger and averaging 94.5 points while holding opponents to 63.5 points. They are led in scoring by Damon Forest’s 23.5 clip. In his last outing against Florida Atlantic on Monday, Forest came off the bench and scored a game-high 28 points.
Against the Broncs, Jarvis Varnado paced MSU in points (22) and rebounds (14) to collect his 16th-career double-double. He also blocked seven shots to leave his 11 shy of tying the SEC mark of 412 and 134 short of the NCAA mark of 535. He was joined in double-digit scoring by Dee Bost (14) and Ravern Johnson (10).
Thursday marks the 18th meeting between the Lions and Bulldogs, with MSU holding a commanding 16-1 advantage. The two first met in 1958 and last met two years ago, with Mississippi State claiming an 84-59 victory. In fact, the average margin of victory for MSU in this series is 25.5 points.
After Thursday, the Bulldogs return to the Hump at 6 p.m. on Saturday to face Bethune-Cookman.
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