MSU tries to earn season sweep over struggling Vanderbilt

When you're scratching and clawing for every victory, it's unlikely you'll be overlooking any team, regardless of its record. It certainly seems as though Mississippi State won't be taking anything for granted as the Bulldogs get set to play host to Vanderbilt at noon on Saturday.

Yes, MSU has already beaten the Commodores once this season. And yes, Vanderbilt has lost eight of its nine Southeastern Conference games this year. But Bulldogs head coach Ben Howland insists his team enters Saturday aware Vanderbilt is perfectly capable of coming to Starkville turning away the Bulldogs.

“They’re playing really well and they’re a very dangerous team," Howland said of Vanderbilt. "They’re as good of a shooting team as there is in our league. Everybody can shoot the ball for their team."

MSU saw firsthand just how strong Vanderbilt can be offensively. The Commodores made 15 3-pointers back on January 9 versus State, but the Bulldogs escaped with an 84-81 win. Now MSU looks to earn the season sweep over Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt comes to the Humphrey Coliseum led by Scotty Pippen, Jr. and Dylan Disu. Pippen is the only SEC player to collect double figures during all of his team’s games in 2020-21. He has amassed 20-plus points in seven outings, which is tied for third on the SEC leaderboard. Pippen averages 20.4 points per game.

Meanwhile Disu heads into Saturday’s action in second place behind State’s Tolu Smith on the SEC rebounding list. He has garnered four double-doubles on the season. He averages 14.4 points and 8.3 boards per contest.

See below for more information on Saturday's game including how you can follow along, as well as comments from Howland's pre-Vanderbilt press conference. To watch Howland's full media session, see the video above.

What: Vanderbilt (5-10, 1-8) at Mississippi State (11-10, 5-7)
Where: Humphrey Coliseum – Starkville, Mississippi
When: Noon central on Saturday, February 13, 2021
TV/Video: SEC Network, Online via ESPN.com/ESPN App
Radio/Audio: Mississippi State Sports Radio Network (click here for full list of affiliates), online at Hailstate.com and the TuneIn radio app

Comments from Ben Howland's 2-12-21 media session:

Question: What year in high school was Derek Fountain when he first appeared on the staff’s radar, and what drew you to recruit him?

Ben Howland: “His junior year, we started recruiting him. You could see that he had a real nice skill package for a guy with size. He was a kid that grew up playing the guard position more than a big because he had a late growth spurt. So, he was a guy that because of that he had good guard skills. We were really fortunate to get him. He was down the road going to a prep school this past May/June. What a fortuitous thing it was for us to be able to get him to come here. As you can see now, he’s going to be a really good player for us.”

Q: What do you hope to use from and improve on from the previous matchup with Vanderbilt?

BH: “I watched that game yesterday the first time we played them. It was a one-point game at halftime. It was a very tight game. They’re a scary team because they’re playing really well right now. Their last four games have all been very tight. They lost at Florida in a seven-point loss against a really good Florida team. That thing was a very close game all the way through it. They beat South Carolina, prior to South Carolina going down to beat Florida right after that, before we played them. They beat South Carolina badly. They had them [South Carolina] down by 18 at halftime and go on to win by 12. It was really a 20-point game most of the second half.”

“They played Georgia in a one possession game in the last 30 seconds and they had a chance to win at Georgia, losing by 2 because of a foul. They could have won. I think [Scotty] Pippen [Jr.] took a shot that ended up being blocked with about 15 seconds left that could have put them up. Then, they lost to Auburn in their last outing at home by six in a very tight game.”

“They’re [Vanderbilt] playing really well, and they’re a very dangerous team. They’re as good of a shooting team as there is in our league. Everybody can shoot the ball for their team. When you look at Pippen and [Dylan] Disu, they are two of the best players in our conference. Pippen is a really, really special player. He’s a great passer, a great scorer and a great shooter. He makes good decisions. He gets to the [free throw] line. He shoots high percentages, both from three and from the field. He has a good assist-to-turnover ratio – he’s got 51 assists in the nine games he’s played in conference. He’s a very good player.”

“Disu has equally as impressive stats. He’s shooting over 40 percent from three, has a very high field goal percentage, a very good rebounder and blocks shots. He’s really talented. You look at the other guys, too. In the South Carolina game, Maxwell Evans had around 28 [points]. He played really well. He’s shooting 46 percent from three in conference, really dangerous. A year ago, he had 30 against LSU in a win at home against LSU. He’s a senior, so he has that added emphasis of ‘This is my last go around, I want to do my very best’.”

“Jordan Wright is playing really well. They come out with [Myles] Stute, who’s a good shooter. [DJ] Harvey is a good shooter. They’re very talented. [Trey] Thomas had 17 against us in the first game. He [has] a very small, slight build, but he’s very skilled. He can really shoot. Everybody can shoot. They’re a very difficult team because they stretch the floor so well with all of those guys that have the ability to shoot.”

Q: How has your team responded since the LSU game?

BH: “We had a good practice yesterday. Normally, after a Wednesday game before a Saturday noon game, we wouldn’t normally tape and go full contact, but because of how we defend them and our need to work on our transition defense, we went for about an hour and 10 minutes yesterday. It was really good. It was very spirited, and the guys played extremely hard. I was very pleased with that. I think that was a positive thing.”

“Any time you play that poorly defensively, you want to get that taste out of your mouth and the best way to do that is to get back to the court and compete. They did that yesterday, that was progress. We’ll practice again in about an hour and I expect to have another really good practice.”

Q: We’ve seen the development of Derek Fountain in games, how are Andersson Garcia and Keondre Montgomery coming along in practice?

BH: “They don’t get a lot of practice time right now 5-on-5 because they’re the next two [that come in]. They get some but not a ton. Right now, this time of year, it’s all about preparation for opponents. It’s limited for them, unfortunately. They still get individual workouts and get up shots, but in terms of the 5-on-5 play, it’s a limited number. It’s typically Derek [Fountain], Cam [Cameron Matthews], Jalen [Johnson], and D.J. [Stewart Jr.] at the wings, along with Iverson [Molinar] and Deivon [Smith] at the point [guard].”

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