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| School Name: | Mississippi State University |
| Location: | Starkville, Mississippi |
| Arena: | Humphrey Coliseum |
| Capacity: | 10,575 |
| Conference: | Southeastern Conference |
| Head coach: | Chris Jans |
The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the athletic teams of Mississippi. They participate in NCAA's Division I in the competitive 12-member Southeastern Conference under the mascot Bulldogs and the school colors of Maroon (color) and White. Mississippi State competes in the NCAA in football, Basketball (men's and women's), Baseball, Softball, Tennis (men's & women's), Golf (men's & women's), Soccer (women's), Volleyball, Track and field (men's outdoor & women's indoor & outdoor), and Cross country running (men's & women's).
Overall, Mississippi State Bulldogs teams have earned 28 SEC Championships.
Men's Basketball[]
In basketball, Mississippi State has won SEC Championships in 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1991, and 2004, and SEC Tournament Championships in 1996 and 2002. The Bulldogs have played in the NCAA Basketball Tournament in 1963, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2008 and in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1974, 1990, 1999, 2001, and 2007. In 1996, MSU made it to the NCAA Final Four before losing in the national semi-finals to the Syracuse Orangemen.
In 1963, the team made history by defying an order from then Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett, not to play in the NCAA tournament, because the team they faced, Loyola University of Chicago, had African-Americans on its squad (4 of them were starters). Coach Babe McCarthy sneaked the team out of Starkville to travel to East Lansing, Michigan, to face Loyola, only to lose to the Ramblers, who went on to win the title that year. This was one of the first times that an all-white school faced a team with black members, and it is considered to be a watershed moment in the Civil Rights era.
Boston Celtics great Bailey Howell played at Mississippi State and is the only MSU player to be in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The 1995-96 team reached a pinnacle in MSU's basketball history, winning a second-straight SEC Western Division title, claiming a first-ever SEC Tournament Championship over top-ranked and eventual national champion Kentucky, and gaining a berth in the NCAA's national championship Final Four. That team earned its national championship ticket with impressive regional wins over #1 seed Connecticut and #2 seed Cincinnati. State's 26 wins that season were the most in school history at the time.
Mississippi State's Humphrey Coliseum is the largest on-campus basketball arena in the state of Mississippi. Opened in 1975, Humphrey Coliseum has undergone many modifications during recent years to rank as one of the finest multi-purpose facilities in the Southeastern Conference. The arena seats 11,000 fans.
See Also[]
- Mississippi State Bulldogs (Women) - Women's program.
- Hail State - Official fight song.