Hoops: MSU 95, Western Kentucky 67

It was a record-setting/record-tying night at Humphrey Coliseum. Sophomore Ravern Johnson scored a career-high 26 points – his previous best was 21 – and set a school record for single-game 3-point accuracy by hitting 6 of 7 from downtown. MSU was 14 of 22 from deep, tying a team record for most 3-pointers made in a game.

So there’s your story. Over its last two games, State is 25 of 47 (53.2%) from 3-point range. Nice.

Before we get to the quotes, a couple of notes on a couple of players who have been MIA:

• Sophomore F Kodi Augustus hasn’t played in the last five games (he’s averaging 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds). Said coach Rick Stansbury tonight, “It’ll always be a coach’s decision.” That’s what he said a couple of weeks ago. We have our suspicions as to why he’s been riding the pine so hard, but nothing substantiated right now.

• Also absent of late has been junior transfer F Jacquiese Holcombe. He’s missed the last four games, because Stansbury wants to try and get him a medical redshirt. Holcombe has been slowed by a foot injury. Stansbury: “It wasn’t fair to him. He missed all of fall and all of summer and all of practice with that rod being put in his foot.”

Now, to the quotes. First, Stansbury:

• “When you make shots, the world goes round. I thought we were about as good as you could be doing some things defensively. I think at halftime, we’d only given up 25 points. That’s a huge state, particularly with a team that can really score and can really shoot that 3-pointer.”

• On his small lineup: “I think the more rhythm you get, the more you work at it, the more guys see where the shots are coming from, the more confidence you can gain from that.”

• On Brian Johnson, who’s getting back from an injury: “He’s going to give you a great effort. You just don’t always know what’s going to happen, except when he catches it, he’s going to shoot it. You know that’s going to happen. … It’s not because of lack of effort. We’ll live with that until we get him better and slow him down in there.”

Barry Stewart (18 points):

• “We’ve had two solid wins going into the new season, as we call it, the SEC season. I think it was very important for this team.”

Dee Bost (18 points):

• “Coach changed the offense a little bit so that we have more options when we attack off the dribble and the ball screens, so it opened up a lot of things for us.”

Ravern Johnson:

• “We came out with good energy. I came out and hit my first shot, so I felt a little comfortable out there.”