2003–04 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball team

2003–04 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball
2003–04 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball
SEC regular season champions
NCAA tournament, second round
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 13
AP	No. 8
Record	26–4 (14–2 SEC)
Head coach	Rick Stansbury (6th season);
Assistant coaches	Phil Cunningham; Robert Kirby; Mark White;
Home arena	Humphrey Coliseum
	Seasons ← 2002–03 2004–05 →

2003–04 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
No. 2 Kentucky †	13	–	3	.813	27	–	5	.844
Florida	9	–	7	.563	20	–	11	.645
No. 23 South Carolina	8	–	8	.500	23	–	11	.676
Vanderbilt	8	–	8	.500	23	–	10	.697
Georgia	7	–	9	.438	16	–	14	.533
Tennessee	7	–	9	.438	15	–	14	.517
West
No. 8 Mississippi State	14	–	2	.875	26	–	4	.867
LSU	8	–	8	.500	18	–	11	.621
Alabama	8	–	8	.500	20	–	13	.606
Auburn	5	–	11	.313	14	–	14	.500
Ole Miss	5	–	11	.313	13	–	15	.464
Arkansas	4	–	12	.250	12	–	16	.429

† 2004 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 2003–04 Mississippi State basketball team represented Mississippi State University as a member of the Southeastern Conference during the 2003–04 college basketball season. Under sixth-year head coach Rick Stansbury, the team played their home games at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Mississippi. Mississippi State won the SEC West Division regular season title finishing six games ahead of LSU and Alabama. The Bulldogs were upset in the quarterfinal round of the SEC tournament, losing to Vanderbilt in overtime. The team received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as No. 2 seed in the Atlanta region. After an opening round win over No. 15 seed Monmouth,^[2] the Bulldogs were upset by No. 7 seed Xavier, a team they had beaten earlier in the season, 89–74. Mississippi State finished the season with a record of 26–4 (14–2 SEC).

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Gary Ervin	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr		Brooklyn, NY
PF	4	Lawrence Roberts	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Jr	Baylor	Houston, TX
G	15	Timmy Bowers	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Harrison Central HS	Gulfport, MS
G	22	Dietric Slater	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr	Wayne County HS	Waynesboro, MS
F	41	Piotr Stelmach	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Fr	SMS Warka	Kamien Pomorski, Poland

Head coach

Rick Stansbury (Campbellsville)

Assistant coach(es)

Phil Cunningham (Campbellsville)
Robert Kirby (UTPA)
Mark White (Austin Peay)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference Regular season
Nov 22, 2003*		Tennessee-Martin	W 90–74	1–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Nov 26, 2003*		South Alabama	W 71–62	2–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Nov 29, 2003*		at Western Kentucky	W 81–75	3–0	E.A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, Kentucky
Dec 1, 2003*		McNeese State	W 92–69	4–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Dec 3, 2003*		Louisiana-Monroe	W 76–52	5–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Dec 6, 2003*		UAB	W 86–84	6–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Dec 13, 2003*		Xavier	W 82–70	7–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Dec 16, 2003*		vs. New Orleans	W 77–59	8–0	BankCorp South Arena
Dec 20, 2003*		at Santa Clara	W 66–61 ^OT	9–0	Leavey Center Santa Clara, California
Dec 27, 2003*		at Tulane	W 72–50	10–0	Avron B. Fogelman Arena New Orleans, Louisiana
Jan 3, 2004*	No. 24	at Little Rock	W 68–58	11–0	Alltel Arena Little Rock, Arkansas
SEC Regular season
Jan 7, 2004	No. 22	at Ole Miss	W 61–54	12–0 (1–0)	Tad Smith Coliseum Oxford, Mississippi
Jan 10, 2004	No. 22	Arkansas	W 80–62	13–0 (2–0)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 13, 2004 ESPN	No. 20	No. 5 Kentucky	L 66–67	13–1 (2–1)	Humphrey Coliseum (10,432) Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 17, 2004	No. 20	at LSU	W 64–54	14–1 (3–1)	Maravich Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Jan 21, 2004	No. 19	at No. 17 Florida	W 79–68	15–1 (4–1)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Jan 24, 2004	No. 19	Georgia	W 71–58	16–1 (5–1)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 28, 2004	No. 11	Tennessee	W 82–60	17–1 (6–1)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 31, 2004	No. 11	at Auburn	W 73–68	18–1 (7–1)	Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Auburn, Alabama
Feb 7, 2004	No. 7	Ole Miss	W 80–56	19–1 (8–1)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Feb 11, 2004	No. 6	at No. 25 South Carolina	W 79–75 ^OT	20–1 (9–1)	The Colonial Life Arena Columbia, South Carolina
Feb 14, 2004	No. 6	at Arkansas	W 77–70	21–1 (10–1)	Bud Walton Arena Fayetteville, Arkansas
Feb 21, 2004	No. 4	Alabama	L 73–77	21–2 (10–2)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Feb 25, 2004	No. 7	LSU	W 84–58	22–2 (11–2)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Feb 28, 2004	No. 7	at Vanderbilt	W 72–69	23–2 (12–2)	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 2, 2004	No. 5	Auburn	W 105–91	24–2 (13–2)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Mar 6, 2004	No. 5	at Alabama	W 82–81 ^OT	25–2 (14–2)	Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, Alabama
SEC Tournament
Mar 12, 2004*	(W1) No. 4	vs. (E4) Vanderbilt Quarterfinals	L 70–74 ^OT	25–3	Georgia Dome Atlanta, Georgia
NCAA Tournament
Mar 19, 2004*	(2 ATL) No. 8	vs. (15 ATL) Monmouth First Round	W 85–52	26–3	Amway Arena Orlando, Florida
Mar 21, 2004*	(2 ATL) No. 8	vs. (7 ATL) Xavier Second Round	L 74–89	26–4	Amway Arena Orlando, Florida
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ATL=Atlanta.