STARKVILLE — Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Rick Stansbury never has been shy about touting the skills of his team’s next opponent days before a game.
The Bulldogs’ 14th-year coach has taken his team’s game against Akron at 6 tonight (ESPNU) to another level by highlighting the Zips’ talent in interviews months before they arrived in Starkville.
“They are a different kind of team, and they are very talented,” Stansbury said. “They made the NCAA tournament last year, and they will be near the top of their league again this year.”
The Zips return three starters and eight letterwinners from a team that last season won the Mid-American Conference tournament championship. Akron (23-13, 9-7 MAC) won its second tournament crown in three seasons, and is one of just 20 Division I programs to have won at least 20 games in each of the past six seasons.
The focus of attention will be on junior 7-foot center Zeke Marshall, who has a 7-5 wingspan and wears a size 18 shoe. Marshall holds the blocked shots records for an Akron freshman (59), sophomore (92), and for a season.
“I don’t know that much about them, but coach Stansbury says they got a 7-footer that’s really good, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing how good he is,” MSU forward Arnett Moultrie said.
Moultrie became the first MSU player to record a double-double in his debut since Lawrence Roberts (26 points, 15 rebounds in 2002-2003) on Monday when he had 13 points and 10 rebounds in a 76-66 victory against Eastern Kentucky. Wooden Award candidate Dee Bost helped secure the victory by scoring 10 of his team’s last 14 points, including a steal and dunk for the game’s final basket.
The play of junior center Renardo Sidney will be key tonight. He had nine points and three rebounds in 23 minutes against Eastern Kentucky.
“He’s better than he was, but we still want more from him,” Stansbury said Monday night. “We need more from him.”
The Bulldogs (1-0) hope freshman point guard DeVille Smith will be able to make his college debut tonight. He suffered headaches and dizziness and was released from a Jackson hospital Monday and was dressed out for the EKU game.
Akron is coming off an 84-62 exhibition victory against John Carroll. The team is coached by Keith Dambrot, who coached current NBA standout LeBron James and the Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School boys basketball team in 2000 and 2001.
“We’re young and inexperienced because our first group is good and then we don’t know what we’re going to get from then on,” Dambrot said. “Our guard play has to get a lot better if we’re going to have success like we’ve had in the past.”
Tonight’s matchup is part of the 2011 2K Sports Classic. It concludes
next week at Madison Square Garden in New York City with a field that features Texas A&M, Arizona, and St. John’s.
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