BULLDOG BITS
Men’s Basketball
NEWARK, New Jersey – The Mississippi State men's basketball team will return to the Never Forget Tribute Classic for the second straight season announced Friday by tournament organizers.
The Bulldogs will take on fellow 2019 NCAA Tournament participant Kansas State on Saturday, December 14 at the Prudential Center, home of the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils. Game time and television network will be determined at a later date.
Mississippi State captured an 82-71 victory over Clemson during last season's Never Forget Tribute Classic. The Bulldogs drained a program single-game record 19 three-pointers. The trio of Aric Holman, Lamar Peters and Quinndary Weatherspoon combined to knock down 17 treys en route to a combined 64 points coupled with 15 rebounds and 11 assists.
The Wildcats turned in a 25-9 campaign in 2018-19 and shared the Big 12 regular season championship with NCAA National Runner-up Texas Tech. K-state lost its top three scorers in Barry Brown (14.6 points per game), Dean Wade (12.9 points per game) and Kamau Stokes (11.0 points per game) due to graduation. Xavier Sneed, a 2019 Allbig 12 Honorable Mention pick, garnered 10.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals per contest.
“It is good to be playing Kansas State in the Never Forget Tribute Classic which is for a tremendous cause that I feel really strongly about,” MSU head coach Ben Howland said. “Kansas State won the Big 12 last year, and Bruce Weber is one of the best coaches in the country. It will be a big challenge for our team to play a very good and a wellcoached team in Kansas State.”
The 2019 Never Forget Tribute Classic marks the fourth time that Mississippi State and Kansas State will meet on the hardwood. The two teams played a homeand-home series during the 198485 and 1985-86 seasons. The last meeting was at the 1994 NIT First Round, a 78-67 decision to the Wildcats.
Mississippi State's 2019-20 schedule also features a trip to the 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational on November 21-22 and 24. The eight-team tournament field includes Baylor, Coastal Carolina Middle Tennessee, Ohio, Tulane, Utah and Villanova.
The Bulldogs will make their return to the SEC/BIG 12 Challenge on Saturday, January 25. The 10 matchups are slated to be released in the near future by the conference offices.
The Never Forget Tribute Classic will partner with Soliderstrong, which was created to support the men and women of the armed forces that sprung into action, protecting our freedom in the wake of 9/11.
As the charitable partner of the Never Forget Tribute Classic, Soldierstrong will continue to service American veterans by providing resources that aid both mental and physical rehabilitation, as well as by assisting with scholarship grants for domestic and foreign affair grants. For more information, visit www.soldierstrong.org
Mississippi State's roster features a solid nucleus of five returning players who combined for 83 starts in Abdul Ado, Tyson Carter, Reggie Perry, Nick Weatherspoon and Robert Woodard II. The quintet is joined by veteran postmen Keyshawn Feazell and E.J. Datcher along with a talented freshmen class which features Devin Butts, Elias King, Iverson Molinar and Quinten Post. After redshirting the 2018-19 season, Prince Oduro and D.J. Stewart also will compete in their first season for the Bulldogs.
Mississippi State posted a 2311 record last season and secured the program's 11th NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bulldogs have dialed up 48 victories over the last two seasons which is tied for second-most in program history over a two-year span and fourth among SEC schools.
Also in Heraklion, Greece, Mississippi State forward Reggie Perry and Team USA begin pool play action at the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup over the weekend.
Team USA will play three games over a four-day span against New Zealand (Today, noon), Lithuania (Sunday, 9:45 a.m.) and the Senegal (Tuesday, 8 a.m.) in Group A. All three games will be streamed live at www.youtube.com/fiba.
Following group play, the event's round of 16 will be held on July 3 followed by the quarterfinals on July 5, the semifinals on July 6 and finals on July 7.
Perry posted 8.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game during Team USA'S exhibition victories over Greece (72-58) and Serbia (92-88) earlier this week.
Team USA has captured a medal in five of the last six FIBA U19 World Cups highlighted by three gold medals in 2009, 2013 and 2015. Mississippi State's Arnett Moultrie was a member of the 2009 gold medal squad.
Team USA is led by head coach Bruce Weber (Kansas State) along with assistant coaches Mike Hopkins (Washington) and Levelle Moton (North Carolina Central). Members of the USA Basketball Junior National Team Committee include chairman Matt Painter (Purdue), Shane Battier (Athlete Representative), Tony Bennett (Virginia), Ed Cooley (Providence) and Sean Miller (Arizona).
Track and Field
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – It wouldn't be a javelin festival without #Javu.
Curtis Thompson will represent Mississippi State at the fifth annual American Javfest hosted by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation this weekend. Thompson will compete in the Elite Men division today at 5:30 p.m.
The 2019 edition of Javfest will be held at East Stroudsburg South High School in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The meet includes competition for every age and ability level along with teaching and educational opportunities.
The meet is intended to be a stateside version of the great Pihtipudas Javelin Carnival in Finland. It is meant to share the joys of the javelin with throwers of all ages while allowing athletes, coaches and fans of the sport to be fully engaged educationally, socially and competitively.
Previous years have seen multiple national and international qualifying marks in the Elite competition. Two-time Olympian Cyrus Hostetler won the 2017 competition while breaking the international standard of 83.00 meters (272-3).