February 2003 MSU Basketball Skuttle-Butt

02/19/03
Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State's junior center Mario Austin has been named one of the 20 finalists for this year's Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award. Jackie Bradford, the president of the Atlanta Tipoff Club, made the announcement Tuesday afternoon from the organization's Atlanta offices.

The Naismith Board of Selectors, which includes some of the country's leading basketball coaches, journalists and administrators, began the selection process earlier this year and have reduced the number of finalists by balloting to the 20 top male and female players they felt most deserving of the award. Lady Bulldog senior forward LaToya Thomas is a top-20 finalist for the women's Naismith honor. The winners of the Naismith Awards will be honored in Atlanta on Friday, April 11, 2003.

Austin, who has also made the Midseason Top 30 list of candidates for this year's John R. Wooden Award, is joined on the 2002-03 Naismith Award candidate listing by Southeastern Conference foes Keith Bogans of Kentucky, Florida's Matt Bonner and Jarvis Hayes of Georgia.

Austin, 6-9, 260 pounds from York, Ala., is currently leading coach Rick Stansbury's 19th-ranked Bulldogs in scoring (16.9 ppg), rebounding (8.3 rpg) and field-goal percentage (56.8%) on the season. Having recently joined the school's 1,000-point club for career scoring, Austin currently tops the SEC in field-goal percentage (59.2%) for conference games only, while ranking eighth in league scoring (15.5 ppg) and fourth in rebounding (8.2 rpg). A second-team all-SEC selection a year ago as a sophomore, Austin is the reigning SEC Tournament MVP after leading last year's State squad to the school's second league tournament title in the last seven years.

Source: MSU Media Relations

02/18/03
Women's Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Lady Bulldog senior forward LaToya Thomas was selected as one of the 10 women's finalists for the Senior CLASS Award, organizers announced today. Thomas along with fellow SEC players Chantelle Anderson (VU), Ashley McElhiney (VU), Gwen Jackson (UT), Kara Lawson (UT) and Jocelyn Penn (USC) are among the candidates for the award presented to the outstanding male and female senior NCAA Division I basketball player.

"It is a great honor to represent my home state, university and team," said LaToya Thomas.

The Senior CLASS Award is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School and was launched prior to the 2001-02 season. Other finalists include Coretta Brown of North Carolina, Courtney Coleman of Ohio State, Cheryl Ford of Louisiana Tech and Plenette Pierson of Texas Tech.

The 10 finalists for the second annual award were selected by a national committee of sportswriters and sportscasters who cover Division I college basketball. These players were chosen, based on performances during the current season, from a list of 30 "Players to Watch" for both men and women.

The selection of the winner will be based on the combination of three ballots: the national media committee, Division I college basketball coaches and nationwide fan balloting via www.seniorclassaward.com . The winner will be announced during the respective NCAA Final Four events in March.

Source: MSU Media Relations

02/15/03
Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The 14th-ranked Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs (17-6, 5-4) host Kentucky (9-12, 2-7), their fifth SEC opponent this season, in Humphrey Coliseum on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.

This Sunday is also 4-H Day. The program that helps children ages 5-18 become greater leaders and citizens to their communities, will be in attendance to celebrate their 4-H involvement and support women's basketball. The Head, Heart, Hands, Help program serves 82 counties in the state of Mississippi with numerous community projects.

MSU snapped its two-game losing streak with its 81-69 non-conference win over New Orleans on Wednesday. MSU pulled down a season-high 50 rebounds the other night vs. UNO, to the Privateers' 36. MSU has out-rebounded SEC foes Florida (46-40), Mississippi (45-41) and Vanderbilt (41-31). The Lady Bulldogs are 13-3 when out-rebounding their opponents and only 4-3 when an opponent out-rebounds MSU.

Kentucky lost its fifth straight conference game to Arkansas, 70-60, Thursday night. UK leads the series, 14-10, including the last meeting in the first round of the SEC Tournament where the Wildcats upset the Lady Bulldogs, 75-72. MSU defeated UK earlier last season in Lexington, 59-54. MSU does lead the series 5-4 at home and are 7-4 with Fanning at the helm.

Source: MSU Media Relations

02/04/03
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Having just this past weekend become the 25th player in Mississippi State men's basketball history to join the school's 1,000-point club, junior center Mario Austin has made the Midseason Top 30 list of candidates for this year's prestigious John R. Wooden Award. The Wooden Award Committee made the announcement Monday from its Los Angeles headquarters.

The 6-9, 260-pound Austin is joined on this year's midseason Wooden Award list, which was trimmed down this week from its original list of 50 preseason candidates, by fellow SEC standouts Keith Bogans (Kentucky), Matt Bonner (Florida), Erwin Dudley (Alabama) and Jarvis Hayes (Georgia).

Created in 1976 and touted by many as the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball, the John R. Wooden Award is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his university that he is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.00 grade point average. With the Wooden Award Committee slated to pare down the list to a ballot consisting of 15-20 players in early March, the 2003 Wooden Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American Team, will be held at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Saturday, April 12. The top five candidates will be invited to Los Angeles for the ceremony and $15,000 will be contributed in their name to their university's general scholarship fund.

Now with 1,013 career points to his credit, Austin reached the 1,000-point mark with his first basket during this past Saturday's 67-63 loss at Georgia. Averaging 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game on the season, while also ranking second in the SEC in field-goal percentage (60.3%) for conference games only, Austin recorded his 10th career double-double (third of the season) with 14 points and 10 rebounds this past weekend against the Georgia Bulldogs.

A native of York, Ala., Austin was a second-team all-SEC selection last season for coach Rick Stansbury's 27-8 Bulldogs and was named the 2002 SEC Tournament MVP after leading Mississippi State to its second league tournament title in seven years.

Source: MSU Media Relations