Cougars Men's Basketball to Play at Mississippi State on Saturday

STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI (January 1, 2009) Winners of eight of their last nine games, the University of Houston men's basketball looks to continue that success on the road this weekend when it faces Mississippi State at 3 p.m., Saturday, inside Humphrey Coliseum.

The Cougars come into the game on the heels of a dominating 80-54 win over Massachusetts on Tuesday inside Hofheinz Pavilion. In that game, junior forward Qa'rraan Calhoun set a career high with 26 points, including four 3-pointers, while junior guard Kelvin Lewis added 20 points and a pair of treys.

They became the first Cougar players to record at least 20 points in the same game since Lewis (28) and guard Robert McKiver (33) accomplished the feat against Valparaiso during the 2008 College Basketball Invitational quarterfinals.

Junior guard Aubrey Coleman also finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds against the Minutemen for his second double-double in the last three games. The Houston native is the only player to rank among the Conference USA top-seven individual leaders in both scoring and rebounding.

Senior center Marcus Cousin is third on the team with 13.0 points per game but leads C-USA with 9.9 boards per contest. The Baltimore native grabbed nine rebounds and swatted five shots in the Cougars' win over UMass on Tuesday.

Senior guard DaShaun Williams came off the bench to dish out a career-high eight assists against UMass.


RADIO/TV INFORMATION
Cougar Men's Basketball games can be heard live on 790 AM The Sports Animal or on the Internet at UHCougars.com with Tom Franklin calling the play-by-play action. The pregame show is slated to begin 15 minutes before tip-off.

Saturday's game also will be televised live on CSS with Jim Ellis calling the play-by-play action and Shane Power providing analysis. It will be the first of four Cougar Basketball games televised during the regular season.


LIVE STATS
Fans can follow the play-by-play action by clicking on the Live Stats on MStateAthletics.com and UHCougars.com.


SERIES HISTORY
For the first time since the 1983-84 season, the Cougars will meet Mississippi State on the hardwood. The Cougars own a 5-0 lead in the all-time series, which began during the 1962-63 season.

Although the Cougars have enjoyed tremendous success against the Bulldogs, the series has been close with four of the five game being decided by nine or fewer points.

In the last game, the Cougars enjoyed a 68-62 win on Nov. 30, 1983, in Starkville, Miss. That game marked the third straight season that the two teams played.

Saturday's game will be only the second time that the two teams have met in Mississippi.


ABOUT MISSISSIPPI STATE
Mississippi State comes into this weekend's game with an 8-5 overall record after falling 64-61 to San Diego in overtime in their most recent action on Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs have alternated wins and losses in their seven games after winning their first five games to open the season.

Jarvis Varnado leads the Bulldogs with 14.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, while Ravern Johnson ranks second with 11.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Now in his 11th year at Mississippi State, head coach Rick Stansbury has not faced Houston during his career.