Arkansas State vs. Marshall December 20, 2014 | 2:00 p.m. Jonesboro, Ark. | Convocation Center TV: None | Video: StateZone

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MEDIA INFORMATION  Date Saturday, December 20 | 2:00 p.m.  Location Jonesboro, Ark. | Convocation Center  Tickets Purchase Tickets Online  TV None  Video/Audio StateZone/AStateRedWolves.com  Radio EAB Red Wolves Sports Net. 107.9 FM KFIN  Live Stats AStateStats.com  Twitter @AStateMB     @AStateGameDay   @AStateRedWolves   #AStateMB  Game Notes A-State | Marshall ARKANSAS STATE RED WOLVES  Record 3-4, 0-0 Sun Belt Conference  Last Game 69-55 Win at Mississippi State  Head Coach John Brady   Career: 383-311 (23 Seasons)   A-State Record: 102-95 (7 Seasons) MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD  Record 4-6, 0-0 Conference USA  Last Game 90-76 Win vs. King (Tenn.) University  Head Coach Dan D'Antoni   Career: 4-6 (1 Seasons)   Record at school: Same

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A-State defeated Mississippi State 69-55 Wednesday night to improve to 3-4 on the season. The win gave the Red Wolves their first victory over an SEC opponent since the 2004-05 season (70-68 win versus Ole Miss). It was also the first road victory over a Southeastern Conference foe since A-State opened the 2003-04 season with a 74-69 win at Ole Miss.

Arkansas State improved to 3-9 (.250) against Mississippi State with the 69-55 win and marked the first time since the 1955-56 season that A-State had beaten the Bulldogs (a 76-61 win in Jonesboro). A-State improved to 14-46 (.233) against schools currently in the SEC and the 14-point margin of victory was the largest over an SEC school since a 66-52 victory over LSU in the 1987-88 season.

The Red Wolves outshot the Bulldogs 52.2 percent to 32.3 percent and were 8-19 (42.1 percent) from beyond the arc compared to Mississippi State's mark of 3-17 (17.6 percent). Sean Gardner scored 22 points to lead the Red Wolves as A-State's starters outscored MSU 65-15.

The 2014-15 campaign represents the program's 87th season as the Red Wolves have presently amassed a 1,145-1,081 all-time record (.514 win pct.) dating back their inaugural 1926-27 season. A-State has won at least 20 games in a season five times – 1986-87 (21-13), 1987-88 (21-14), 1988-89 (20-10), 1990-91 (23-9) and 1997-98 (20-9) since joining the NCAA-I ranks in 1970-71.

A-State's 19 victories in the 2013-14 season (19-13 record) tied for the second most single-season wins since 1997-98 and also marked a tie for the highest win total in head coach John Brady's A-State coaching career. The Red Wolves went 19-12 overall in 2012-13, which was the program's most wins since 1997-98 (20-9 record). A-State has achieved 17 wins or more in a campaign five of the last six seasons to date and the Red Wolves have posted an 89-78 record (.533) since the 2009-10 season.

A-State has compiled double-digit victories in 16 of the last 18 seasons. The Red Wolves have won at least 15 games or more on 11 occasions, which includes four of the last five seasons to date.

Arkansas State's contest with Marshall will wrap up the team's home non-conference portion of its schedule. The team travels to Niagara for a Dec. 23 matchup that will be the team's final non-conference game of the season. A-State begins SBC play Dec. 30 at South Alabama.

A-STATE/MARSHALL SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's meeting with the Thundering Herd will be the third meeting in history between the two schools with the Red Wolves holding a 2-0 edge. A-State took an 81-73 victory in the 1988-89 season at the Kentucky Invitational in Lexington, Ky. A-State went on the win the tournament with an 80-51 win over Bowling Green after the Falcons upset Kentucky 56-54. The two teams didn't play again until last season when the Red Wolves defeated Marshall 83-82 at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, W.Va.

In the last meeting, A-State's Brandon Reed hit a three-pointer with 24.5 seconds left to break a 79-79 tie and the Red Wolves held on to win 83-82. All five A-State starters scored in double digits with Reed leading the way with 21 points. Kirk Van Slyke and Melvin Johnson III both scored 16 points each, while Cameron Golden (13) and Kendrick Washington (10) also scored in double figures. The Red Wolves outshot the Thundering Herd 46.8 percent (29-62) to 38.6 percent (27-70), but Marshall outrebounded Arkansas State 48-39. Both teams had ten turnovers, but the Red Wolves dished out 17 assists to Marshall's 14. A-State led 47-31 at halftime and had an 18-point advantage early in the second half, but Marshall stormed back to make a game of it by outscoring A-State 51-36 in the second period.

Arkansas State sports a 110-142 record (.437) against schools currently in Conference USA. A-State has played several of the opponents a number of times because C-USA added a few of A-State's former SBC foes. Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, and Western Kentucky were all recently in the Sun Belt Conference, while Louisiana Tech was in the SBC until the 2000-01 season and played with A-State in Southland Conference before that. A-State has played every school in Conference USA at least once except for Charlotte.

LAST TIME OUT
Arkansas State defeated Mississippi State 69-55 Wednesday night in a SEC Network televised contest to improve to 3-4 on the season. A-State led for 32:32 of the game and Mississippi State never got closer than seven points in the second half. Sean Gardner scored 22 points to lead the Red Wolves, while A-State's defense held the Bulldogs to a 32.3 percent (21-65) mark from the field.

Cameron Golden and Nouhoum Bocoum also scored in double figures with 15 and 13 points, respectively, while Bocoum grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. A-State outrebounded Mississippi State 39-33 and had 13 assists to MSU's four. PJ Hardwick handed out seven of the assists and also scored the game's final five points on free throws. Arkansas State shot 8-19 (42.1 percent) from beyond the arc, while Mississippi State was just 3-17 (17.6 percent) from three-point range.

The Red Wolves' win over the Bulldogs was the first win for A-State over a Southeastern Conference opponent since a 70-68 home win over Ole Miss in the 2004-05 season. A-State improved to 14-46 (.233) against schools currently in the SEC and the 14-point win was the largest margin of victory since at 66-52 win over LSU in the 1987-88 season. A-State also improved to 3-9 against MSU and registered its first win at Humphrey Coliseum and first win over the Bulldogs since the 1955-56 season.

SCOUTING MARSHALL
The Thundering Herd enter Saturday's contest with a record of 4-6 after defeating King University (Tenn.) 90-76 on Tuesday night. The win snapped a six-game losing streak which occurred after the Thundering Herd began the season 3-0. Marshall won three home games over Jacksonville State, Savannah State, and West Virginia Tech before an 85-67 loss to No. 7 Louisville started the slide. Marshall dropped four straight games at home after the Louisville loss, and lost at No. 22 West Virginia 69-66 before the win over King.

Marshall was led by Austin Loop's 17 points in the win over King, with Tamron Manning (16), Ryan Taylor (15), and Justin Edmonds (14) all scoring in double digits. Taylor also grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds.

Ryan Taylor leads the team in scoring (14.8 PPG) and rebounding (9.3 RPG), while Shawn Smith is the only other player averaging double figures with 12 PPG, but he hasn't played in the last five contests. Marshall head coach Dan D'Antoni is the older brother of Mike D'Antoni, former NBA head coach of the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Lakers. Dan coached under Mike as an assistant at Phoenix, New York, and Los Angeles. Both brothers played collegiately at Marshall and both are enshrined in Marshall's Athletics Hall of Fame.

Gardner's Great Aim: Redshirt junior guard Sean Gardner scored a game-high 22 points against Mississippi State and hit four key three-pointers in the second half to lead A-State to its 69-55 win. He was 8-14 from the field overall and 5-10 from beyond the arc. He also grabbed five rebounds on the night. Earlier this season, he scored an A-State season-high 28 points against Belhaven Dec. 6. He connected on 10-of-13 shooting from the field and made 8-of-9 three-point attempts. His two, two-point field goals were both on dunks. The first was on an offensive rebound he soared through the air to slam home and the other was on an alley-oop pass. He is third on the team in scoring with a 13.4 PPG average, which is 14th in the Sun Belt Conference. He also has a .480 shooting percentage from the field this season, third on the team, and a .409 mark from three-point range, which ranks second in the conference and 43rd in the nation.

The Golden Rule: Junior guard Cameron Golden was second on the squad with 15 points against Mississippi State and is second on the team with a 14.9 PPG average. That mark ranks him ninth in the conference. He is team's leader in steals with a 2.1 SPG mark, a total that ranks fourth in the SBC and 53rd in the nation. He has the most assists on the team with 28, but is second in APG with a 4.0 average. Additionally, Golden is third in the conference with 20 total three-point field goals made for a 2.9 per game average.

Nouhoum, No Problem: A-State junior center Nouhoum Bocoum has drawn two consecutive starts since coming off the bench in the first five games of the season. He has scored 13 points in back-to-back starts and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds in the win over Mississippi State. Bocoum also has one of the team's double-doubles this season with a 10-point, 10-rebound effort against Purdue off the bench. He is fourth on the team in scoring (8.0 PPG) and second in rebounding (6.4 RPG).

Doubling Up: A-State has had at least three players score in double figures in six of its seven games this season, with the only exception being the Purdue contest. A-State had three scorers in double figures against Mississippi State with Sean Gardner leading the way with 22. Cameron Golden was second on the team with 15 points and Nouhoum Bocoum added 13. A-State had four players with double-digit scoring totals for the first time this season in the Toledo contest with Golden leading the way with 18. Bocoum (13), Gardner (12), and Anthony Livingston (11) were the other three scorers in double figures for Arkansas State.

Living-strong: Sophomore forward Anthony Livingston has had little problems adjusting to Division I basketball after transferring from San Jacinto Junior College. He's led the team in scoring four of the team's first seven games and got A-State's first double-double of the season against Belhaven with 19 points and 10 rebounds, all defensive. He didn't score in double-figures for this first time this season against Mississippi State but did have eight points and seven rebounds. He leads A-State in points per game (16.0), rebounds per game (6.6), field-goal percentage (56.8 percent), and blocks per game (1.1). The PPG mark ranks as a tie for fifth in the conference and 139th in the nation, while the field-goal percentage is fifth in the SBC and 45th in the country.

Brady's Homecoming A Success: A-State head coach John Brady returned to Mississippi State Wednesday night and came away with a 69-55 win. He earned his master's degree from Mississippi State and was a graduate assistant coach for the Bulldogs in 1977. After a high school head coaching stint, Brady returned to Mississippi State as an assistant coach and was with the Bulldogs for eight seasons from 1982-90. He served as the primary recruiter for head coach Richard Williams the last four years of his tenure.

No Rest For the Weary: Cameron Golden, Anthony Livingston, and Sean Gardner are all in the top-10 in minutes played in the Sun Belt Conference. Golden is third with 35.4 per game average, while Livingston is sixth with 33.7 MPG and Gardner is seventh with 33.4 MPG. Golden's mark also ranks 50th in the nation.

National and SBC Rankings: A-State is fifth in the nation in fewest fouls with 120 and first in the SBC. As a team, the Red Wolves rank third in the conference in three-point shooting (37.7 percent) and 66th in the country.

Career High For Cali: Sophomore guard Daijon Macklien (nicknamed Cali because his home state is California) played a career-high 21 minutes against Toledo and scored a career-high seven points by connecting on two three-pointers and adding a free throw. He also added two assists and a steal against the Rockets.

Running Waters: Junior forward Charles Waters recorded his first career points against UCA on Dec. 1 when he intercepted a pass and took it coast-to-coast for a slam dunk. He added six points against Belhaven Saturday night with four of his six points coming via the slam dunk. He intercepted a pass and threw it down on the other end for his first points of the night against the Blazers, in similar fashion to his dunk at UCA, and after a layup, added two more points on an alley-oop dunk.

Number 100: Arkansas State head coach John Brady recorded his 100th win as A-State's head coach with the 67-49 victory over UCA on December 1. He became the fifth coach to register at least 100 wins at Arkansas State joining John Rauth, Nelson Catalina, Dickey Nutt, and Marvin Adams. Adams is the coach above Brady with 111 wins that he tallied from 1976-84.

Did You Know?: Sophomore guard Daijon Macklien played football at NCAA Divsion II North Alabama in the 2012 season ... Sean Gardner and junior forward Charles Waters are stepbrothers ... Nouhoum Bocoum wears size 18 shoes ... Cameron Golden has switched his jersey number to one for this upcoming season after wearing zero this past 2013-14 campaign.

Close Ties: Guard Josh Pierre's father, Butch, will embark on his seventh season as the associate men's basketball head coach at Oklahoma State University. Butch spent 11 seasons (1997-08) at LSU as a member of current A-State head coach John Brady's staff, including six as an associate head coach. Josh has a twin brother, Joseph III. Pierre doubled his points production last season by tallying 12 points in eight games after netting six points in four appearances for the 2012-13 campaign.