North Texas Basketball travels to Starkville, Ms to take on the Southeastern Conference member #24 Mississippi State (6-1) in a 1:30 PM tip-off time.  The Bulldogs are entering the game on a six game winning streak after stuffing the University of Tennessee-Martin 76-50 Friday evening.  North Texas and MSU faced each other back in 1972 in the Pacemaker Classic in Monroe, La with the Bulldogs escaping with a 66-65 win.

The Bulldogs lone loss came in their second game of the season when they faced MAC member Akron in Gulfport, Ms. The Zips used high pressure defense forcing turnovers to take a 68-58 win.  

Last year MSU ended the season with a 17-14, 9-7 record after losing its final game of the season in the SEC Tournament to Vanderbilt.

North Texas will be facing #1 Ricardo Sidney, Jr., F, 6-10, 280 and #3 Dee Bost, SR., G, 6-2, 176  SR that are considered to be the one of the best inside-out combinations in the SEC .

MSU is under the leader ship of Rick Stansbury the winningest coach in the program’s history. In his thirteen years at the school he has compiled a 261-141 record with 6 NCAA and 4 NIT appearances. Last year his team won the SEC Western Title.   

MSU has faced two Sun Belt Conference members this season winning both.  They dumped South Alabama 80-65 and Louisiana-Monroe 78-63.

Bost is pouring in 16.9 points a game, Arnett Moultrie, Jr., F, 6-11, 249 is adding in another 15.2 and Rodney Hood, Fr., G, 6-8, 204 is averaging 13.3 per game.  Bost also leads the team in three point attempts with almost seven per game, landing an average of 2.3 of the shots and he leads the team with six free throws from the line putting in an average of 4.3.

Wendell Lewis, Jr., C, 6-9, 260 is the offensive rebound leader with 24 followed by Moultrie with 22 and Brian Bryant is the third in double figures with ten.

There are five leaders in defensive rebounds with Moultrie snaring 34 a game, Hood follows with 32, Bost with 29, Bryant with 28 and Lewis with 17. Overall, Moultrie leads the team in total rebounds with 11.2 total per game.

They are averaging 72 points a game while giving up 61.3. They are plus 1.6 turnovers per game, plus seven in rebounds and over six more points at the line. The will be over 7,000 fans in the stands.

If North Texas fans see #12 Charles Parker, Jr., G, 5-10, 168 in the game they might remember him from his playing days at McKinney North High School.