1995–96 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball team

1995–96 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball
1995–96 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball
SEC Tournament champions; SEC West champions
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Southeastern Conference
	West
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 19
Record	26–8 (10–6 SEC)
Head coach	Richard Williams (10th season);
Assistant coaches	Rick Stansbury (6th season); Greg Carter; Owen Miller;
Home arena	Humphrey Coliseum
	Seasons ← 1994–95 1996–97 →

1995–96 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
No. 2 Kentucky	16	–	0	1.000	34	–	2	.944
Georgia	9	–	7	.563	21	–	10	.677
South Carolina	8	–	8	.500	19	–	12	.613
Vanderbilt	7	–	9	.438	18	–	14	.563
Florida	6	–	10	.375	12	–	16	.429
Tennessee	6	–	10	.375	14	–	15	.483
West
No. 19 Mississippi State †	10	–	6	.625	26	–	8	.765
Arkansas	9	–	7	.563	20	–	13	.606
Alabama	9	–	7	.563	19	–	13	.594
Ole Miss	6	–	10	.375	12	–	15	.444
Auburn	6	–	10	.375	19	–	13	.594
LSU	4	–	12	.250	12	–	17	.414

† 1996 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1995–96 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Mississippi State University in the 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Richard Williams, the Bulldogs won the SEC tournament and reached the Final Four.^[2]

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	3	Marcus Bullard	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sr	Long Beach, Mississippi
C	25	Erick Dampier	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	265 lb (120 kg)	Jr	New Hebron, Mississippi
G	21	McKie Edmonson	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	So	Madison, Mississippi
F	15	Whit Hughes	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Jackson, Mississippi
G	22	Bart Hyche	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Fr	Winfield, Alabama
F	32	Dontae' Jones	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jr	Nashville, Tennessee
G	23	David Rula	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Jackson, Mississippi
F	24	Early Smith	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Fr	Starkville, Mississippi
F/C	20	Russell Walters	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Sr	Myrick, Mississippi
F	44	Jay Walton	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Sr	Pascagoula, Mississippi
F/C	42	Tyrone Washington	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Fr	Indianola, Mississippi
C	33	Bubba Wilson	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Sr	Wiggins, Mississippi
G	00	Darryl Wilson	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Kennedy, Alabama

Head coach

Richard Williams

Assistant coach(es)

Rick Stansbury
Greg Carter
Owen Miller

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

^[3]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 25, 1995*	No. 9	Southeastern Louisiana	W 121–78	1–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Nov 28, 1995*	No. 8	UNC Wilmington	W 77–54	2–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Dec 2, 1995*	No. 8	Brigham Young	W 79–74	3–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Dec 5, 1995*	No. 8	Troy State	W 123–73	4–0	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Dec 9, 1995*	No. 8	Arkansas-Little Rock	L 68–70	4–1	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Dec 16, 1995*	No. 15	at Southern Miss	W 72–69 ^OT	5–1	Reed Green Coliseum Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Dec 19, 1995*	No. 16	at Louisiana-Monroe	W 66–60	6–1	Fant-Ewing Coliseum Monroe, Louisiana
Dec 29, 1995*	No. 17	vs. Oregon State Far West Classic	W 76–62	7–1	Rose Garden Arena Portland, Oregon
Dec 30, 1995*	No. 17	vs. Nebraska Far West Classic	W 69–66	8–1	Rose Garden Arena Portland, Oregon
Jan 3, 1996	No. 17	at LSU	W 77–64	9–1 (1–0)	Maravich Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Jan 6, 1996	No. 17	at Florida	W 69–66	10–1 (2–0)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Jan 9, 1996	No. 12	No. 2 Kentucky	L 56–74	10–2 (2–1)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 13, 1996	No. 12	Alabama	L 55–56	10–3 (2–2)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 17, 1996	No. 21	Ole Miss	W 53–47	11–3 (3–2)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 20, 1996	No. 21	at Arkansas	L 68–80	11–4 (3–3)	Bud Walton Arena Fayetteville, Arkansas
Jan 24, 1996		at South Carolina	L 69–77	11–5 (3–4)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Jan 27, 1996		Tennessee	W 60–59	12–5 (4–4)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 31, 1996		Georgia	W 76–73	13–5 (5–4)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Feb 4, 1996		at No. 22 Auburn	W 78–75 ^OT	14–5 (6–4)	Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Auburn, Alabama
Feb 6, 1996		Arkansas	W 78–63	15–5 (7–4)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Feb 10, 1996*		at Oklahoma	W 76–71	16–5	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, Oklahoma
Feb 17, 1996	No. 25	at Ole Miss	L 64–71	16–6 (7–5)	Tad Smith Coliseum Oxford, Mississippi
Feb 21, 1996		LSU	W 88–77	17–6 (8–5)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Feb 24, 1996		at Alabama	W 73–65	18–6 (9–5)	Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Feb 28, 1996		at Vanderbilt	L 64–69	18–7 (9–6)	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 2, 1996		Auburn	W 67–51	19–7 (10–6)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
SEC Tournament
Mar 8, 1996*	No. 25	vs. Auburn SEC Tournament Quarterfinal	W 69–58	20–7	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana
Mar 9, 1996*	No. 25	vs. Georgia SEC Tournament Semifinal	W 86–68	21–7	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana
Mar 10, 1996*	No. 25	vs. No. 1 Kentucky SEC tournament championship	W 84–73	22–7	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1996*	(5 SE) No. 19	vs. (12 SE) VCU First round	W 58–51	23–7	RCA Dome Indianapolis, Indiana
Mar 16, 1996*	(5 SE) No. 19	vs. (13 SE) Princeton Second Round	W 63–41	24–7	RCA Dome Indianapolis, Indiana
Mar 22, 1996* CBS	(5 SE) No. 19	vs. (1 SE) No. 3 Connecticut Southeast Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 60–55	25–7	Rupp Arena (28,890) Lexington, Kentucky
Mar 24, 1996*	(5 SE) No. 19	vs. (2 SE) No. 7 Cincinnati Southeast Regional Final – Elite Eight	W 73–63	26–7	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Mar 30, 1996*	(5 SE) No. 19	vs. (4 W) No. 15 Syracuse National Semifinal	L 69–77	26–8	Continental Airlines Arena East Rutherford, New Jersey
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Sources^[4]

Rankings

Team players in the 1996 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	10	Erick Dampier	Indiana Pacers
1	21	Dontae' Jones	New York Knicks

^[5]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1995-96 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
^ "MSU Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). HailState.com.
^ "1996 NCAA Final Four program". March 1996. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
^ "1995–96 Mississippi State Bulldogs Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
^ "1996 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved May 18, 2019.

[1] sports-reference.com 1995-96 Southeastern Conference Season Summary

[2] "MSU Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). HailState.com.

[3] "1996 NCAA Final Four program". March 1996. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)

[4] "1995–96 Mississippi State Bulldogs Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved May 19, 2019.

[5] "1996 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved May 18, 2019.

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v t e Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball
Venues	"Tin Gym" (1929–1950) McCarthy Gymnasium (1950–1975) Humphrey Coliseum (1975–present)
Culture & lore	Bully Gambling scandal Game of Change "Hail State" Howell Trophy
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics