STARKVILLE, Miss. - Looking to get back on the winning track after a pair of setbacks last week, the Bulldogs of Mississippi State (14-7, 5-2) close out the first half of their conference slate by playing host to the Alabama Crimson Tide (13-9, 2-5) Wednesday evening on the MSU campus.  Tip-off time for the non-televised contest is set for 7 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum.

Having secured a winning first half of league play for the first time since 2004-05, coach Rick Stansbury’s 14-7 Bulldogs enter the week tied with Arkansas atop the SEC Western Division standings with identical 5-2 conference records.  MState’s recent nine-game winning streak and best SEC start (5-0) since 1993-94 both came to a halt last week in first dropping a 78-58 decision at Arkansas midweek and then falling at home to seventh-ranked Tennessee, 76-71, despite a valiant second-half comeback attempt this past Saturday.

With Mississippi State continuing to rank second nationally as a team in both field-goal percentage defense (.363) behind Georgetown and blocked shots (8.67 bpg) behind Connecticut, junior all-America candidate Jamont Gordon ranks fifth among the SEC’s individual scoring leaders at 17.9 points per game in addition to rating fifth in assists (4.3 apg).  Coming off back-to-back double-doubles this past week against Arkansas and Tennessee, senior all-SEC forward Charles Rhodes stands 16th in the conference in scoring (14.7 ppg) and ninth in rebounding (7.4 rpg).  On the heels of his 21-point effort (6-of-8 treys) against the Vols, sophomore Barry Stewart adds 12.2 points an outing.

Sporting a 10-year head coaching mark of 199-111 and owning an 11-9 career record against the Crimson Tide, State’s Stansbury needs one victory to become the 20th all-time member of the SEC’s 200-win club.  Additionally, sophomore Jarvis Varnado, the nation’s top shot-blocker (4.90 bpg), needs four more rejects to break Erick Dampier’s all-time, single-season school standard of 106 blocks set during MSU’s 1995-96 Final Four campaign.           

Guided by 10th-year head coach and former Alabama standout guard Mark Gottfried, Alabama is 13-9 overall and 2-5 in league action after claiming an 81-72 home win over LSU this past Saturday.  The Tide’s other SEC triumph thus far on the year came at home against rival Auburn, 97-77, on Jan. 26.  With both of its league wins having come since losing at home to MSU, 66-56, last month, Alabama is powered by the potent junior tandem of Richard Hendrix and Alonzo Gee, who combine for nearly 36 points and 18 rebounds per contest between them.  Along with leading the conference in rebounding (10.5 rpg), Hendrix ranks as the SEC’s third-leading scorer (19.4 ppg) and is second in field-goal percentage (.638).  Gee currently rates ninth in the league in scoring (16.3 ppg) and eighth in rebounding (7.5 rpg).

Mississippi State and Alabama have split 11 of the last 13 regular-season series (and 16 of the last 20) between these two SEC West rivals.  Having claimed a 66-56 road victory over Alabama last month, MSU is bidding to register its first regular-season series sweep over the Tide since 1998-99 – the first season for both Stansbury and Gottfried at their respective current head coaching stints.  With last month’s 10-point win in Tuscaloosa, coupled with last year’s 91-67 regular season-ending home triumph over the Tide, the Bulldogs are looking to record a third straight series win over the Crimson Tide for the first time since the 1983-84 and 1984-85 campaigns.  With Alabama having served as MSU’s ‘Senior Day’ opponent each of the last three seasons, this year marks the first time since 2003-04 that the two teams will have played in Starkville prior to the month of March.