Bruins Host Receiving-Votes Mississippi State in Marquee Home Matchup

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In its first Sunday game of the season, the Belmont University women's basketball team welcomes receiving-votes Mississippi State to the Curb Event Center for an intriguing afternoon matchup. Tipoff from the Music City is set for 2 p.m.
 
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dr. Rich Tiner (play-by-play) and former Bruin guard Jenny Roy Bream ('19) (analyst) calling the action. Landen Secrest will be reporting from the sideline. The game can also be heard on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeart Radio. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Sunday's non-conference tilt features two programs with plenty of NCAA Tournament success in recent years. Belmont (2-1) reached the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in back-to-back seasons (2021 and 2022), while the visiting Bulldogs (4-0) were national runners-up in both 2017 and 2018.
• On a two-game winning streak and wrapping up a three-game homestand, the Bruins face their third Southeastern Conference opponent in their first four games of the season.
• Belmont has gone 1-1 against SEC East teams, defeating the University of Georgia in dominant fashion, 76-50, at home last Friday night after dropping a 72-61 decision in the season opener at the University of Missouri.
• The Bruins are fresh off a gritty 75-67 victory over Wichita State Wednesday night. Overcoming poor three-point shooting (5-of-22), Belmont attacked the paint and got to the free-throw line often where the Bruins went 20-for-24. Belmont outrebounded the Shockers 42-31, scored 36 points in the paint, drew 25 fouls and had three different players reach double-figure scoring for the first time of the season.
• For the second consecutive outing, junior forward Tessa Miller made her presence known with a career-high 17 points and eight rebounds. Freshman guard Jailyn Banks continued her stellar start to her collegiate career, scoring 17 points, snagging six boards and distributing a game-best five assists. Junior guard Kilyn McGuff was outstanding, pouring in 14 points on 4-for-8 shooting and tying career highs in both rebounds (9) and steals (3).
• Five of the Bruins' first six games of the season are against power conference programs as Belmont will see six total power conference teams in 2023-24.
• The second SEC team to visit the Curb this year, Mississippi State is the fourth of at least 14 opponents on the Bruins' schedule who had a winning record in 2022-23. The Bulldogs are the second of no less than 10 adversaries who won 20 or more games last year, the fourth of no fewer than 12 teams who made a national postseason tournament last March and the second of no worse than six NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago.
• Including Mississippi State, Belmont faces at least eight programs this year who ended last season ranked in the top 75 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) with five who finished within the top 35. The Bulldogs were one of such teams, finishing 32nd. The Bruins ended 2022-23 ranked 84th in the NET.
• Belmont has pulled down 42 rebounds in each of its last two games after surpassing 40 rebounds just nine times last season.
• The Bruins have hit 20 free throws in back-to-back games after making 20 free throws in only three games last year.
• Junior forward Kendal Cheesman erupted for a career-high 28 points on 9-for-15 three-point shooting in the convincing win over Georgia last Friday, while also collecting nine rebounds in her first career start. Her nine three-point baskets are the most by a NCAA Division I women's basketball player in a game thus far this season and were just one shy of both the single-game program and Curb Event Center record. The Tampa, Florida (H.B. Plant HS), native became the first player since at least 2009-10 to make nine threes and grab nine boards against a power conference team. For her performance, Cheesman was selected as Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Week Tuesday.
• In her first two collegiate games last week, Banks averaged 16 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists. For her sensational play, she was named Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week. In the win over the Lady Bulldogs last Friday, Banks scored nine points and dished out a game-high tying five assists while pulling down five rebounds and making a steal. In her first-ever collegiate game, the Spring Hill, Tennessee (Middle Tennessee Chirstian School), native scored 23 points at Missouri. Banks' 23 points were the fourth-most by any true freshman this season making her debut.
• After her true junior season was cut short due to injury last year, guard Tuti Jones returned for the season opener against the Tigers. She has scored nine points in both of the last two games and accounted for four assists in each of the first three contests of the season. Named to the Preseason All-MVC Second Team, the Troy, Alabama (Charles Henderson HS), native was the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and an All-OVC First Team selection as a sophomore in 2021-22.
• Belmont is ranked 15th in CollegeInsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25^®, moving up five spots this week from the preseason poll.
• The Bruins won their sixth regular season conference championship in seven seasons last year. Belmont has captured nine regular season conference titles in the Bruins' NCAA era. Including the regular season and league tournament, Belmont has won 16 combined conference championships in three different Division I conferences (MVC, OVC and Atlantic Sun Conference).
• The Bruins are one of only 11 teams in the nation to have won 20 or more games for eight-straight seasons.
• Belmont (11) is one of only three programs to have won more than 10 combined conference championships (regular season and tournament) over the last seven seasons. UConn (14) and Florida Gulf Coast (12) are the other two.
• Belmont is the only school in the nation to win 20-plus games for eight consecutive seasons in both women's and men's basketball.
• The Bruins have either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls each of the last eight seasons.
• Belmont has won the 17th-most games in NCAA Division I women's basketball history (1,059).

 
Under Coach Brooks

• In his seventh season at the helm, head coach Bart Brooks was named to the preseason watch list for the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats. Since his arrival in Nashville, he has led the Bruins to a 148-47 (.759) record, four NCAA Tournaments and back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in 2021 and 2022. The third-fastest head coach to 100 career victories in Division I women's basketball history, Brooks owns an astounding record of 111-14 (.888) against conference opponents, including conference tournament games. He ranks among the top 10 of active Division I head coaches in terms of winning percentage.

 
MVC Preseason Poll

• Belmont was picked fourth in the MVC but picked up one first-place vote in the preseason predicted order of finish after capturing a regular season championship in the Bruins' first year in the conference in 2022-23. Going 23-12 overall and 17-3 in the Valley, Belmont reached its third-straight conference tournament title game and made its 10th national postseason tournament in 11 seasons with an at-large bid to the WNIT.

 
Bruins at Home

• The Bruins are 91-12 (.883) at home since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Belmont has a home winning percentage of .744 (189-65) inside the Curb since the arena was opened prior to the 2003-04 season.
• Under coach Brooks, the Bruins are an exceptional 67-11 (.859) inside the Curb.

 
Against the SEC

• Belmont has defeated an SEC team in three of four seasons, including earning a pair of road victories in 2020 and 2021. The Bruins topped receiving-votes Ole Miss 62-50 in November of 2021 after routing Auburn 78-57 in Alabama in December of 2020.
• Belmont is 21-45 all-time versus current SEC members and came within a ball bounce of upsetting 18th-ranked and fourth-seeded Tennessee on the Lady Volunteers' home floor in the 2022 NCAA Tournament Second Round. Coach Brooks is 4-9 against SEC opponents with wins over Georgia, Ole Miss, Auburn and Vanderbilt.

 
Versus Mississippi State

• Sunday afternoon will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs with Mississippi State holding a 3-1 lead in the series.
• The Bruins' lone triumph in the series came on Nov. 20, 2006, when Belmont topped the Bulldogs 67-60 in Starkville, Mississippi.
• Mississippi State won the last matchup between the two teams, 66-51, on Nov. 15, 2007, in the Curb.
• The first-ever meeting between the two teams took place during the 1976-77 national postseason tournament, which was named the National Women's Invitational Tournament. The Bulldogs won that contest, 94-73.
• While the Bruins were transitioning to the NCAA and Division I, Mississippi State earned a 73-52 win in Belmont's final game of the 1997-98 season.

 
About the Bulldogs

• Led by second-year head coach Sam Purcell, who spent nine seasons as an associate and assistant coach at Louisville, the Bulldogs have been nothing short of dominant thus far this season.
• Mississippi State has defeated its first four opponents by an average of 39 points and has allowed just 159 total points across the four games – 39.8 PPG.
• The Bulldogs have owned the glass, averaging 52.5 rebounds per outing with an average rebound margin of 22.5. In fact, in Mississippi State's season opening 77-42 win over Alcorn State, the Bulldogs recorded 70 rebounds.
• Mississippi State is coming off a 61-point, 87-26 win over New Orleans Wednesday. The Bulldogs limited the Privateers to just 11 made field goals.
• Sunday will be Mississippi State's first road test of the season.
• The Bulldogs went 22-11 overall last season and went 9-7 in the SEC, tying with Alabama and Georgia for fifth place in the final standings. Earning an at-large bid to March Madness, Mississippi State played in the inaugural First Four as a No. 11 seed where it knocked out fellow No. 11 seed Illinois. In the NCAA Tournament First Round, the Bulldogs upset sixth-seeded Creighton before falling 53-48 to third-seeded Notre Dame in the round of 32.
• Mississippi State was picked fifth by both the coaches and the media in the SEC preseason polls.
• Sitting just outside the national rankings, the Bulldogs are receiving 51 votes in this week's Associated Press (AP) Top 25 poll and 50 votes in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 Coaches Poll.
• Jessika Carter, a 6-foot-5 graduate center, was named to the Preseason All-SEC First Team by the league's head coaches and earned a spot on the media's Preseason All-SEC Second Team. She is averaging 12.3 points on 55.3 percent shooting and 8.3 rebounds through four games.
• JerKaila Jordan, a 5-foot-9 senior guard who was tabbed Preseason All-SEC Second Team by the conference's coaches, is averaging 19.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.8 steals through the first week and a half of the season. She posted a double-double of 26 points and 13 rebounds in the season opener and is coming off a 24-point, five-steal game.
• Mississippi State also features 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Debreasha Powe, who was a member of the 2023 SEC All-Freshman Team and is averaging 9.8 points and 5.5 rebounds after the first four contests.

 
Up Next
The Bruins head to Las Vegas next week where they will take part in the 2023 Ball Dawgs Classic, held at The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada. Belmont faces top-10 ranked and perennial national power Stanford in its first game next Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. CT. Both nationally-ranked Florida State and Northwestern are also in the four-team tournament. The Bruins' second game in the Ball Dawgs Classic will take place next Friday. Both games will be broadcast on FloHoops.
 
Belmont Basketball Ticket Information
Both single game and season tickets are on sale now. Season tickets are only $199 per seat and include all women's and men's basketball home games.
 
View available seating and purchase your seats.
 
Flex pack plans for the 2023-24 season area also on sale and can be purchased here.
 
For more information, call 615-460-BALL or visit BelmontBruins.com/Tickets.
 
How to Follow
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