Dayton vs. Mississippi State: What you need to know about Saturday’s game

When: 3 p.m., Saturday. The game was originally scheduled for noon but was changed on Friday for TV reasons.

TV/Radio: ESPNU/1290 WHIO

Series: Mississippi State leads the series 3-0. The Bulldogs won 56-54 on Dec. 19, 1975, at UD Arena, 61-59 on Dec. 3, 2017, in Starkville, Miss., and 65-58 on Nov. 30, 2018, at UD Arena.

Coaches: Anthony Grant is 66-32 in four seasons at Dayton. Ben Howland is 101-69 in six seasons at Mississippi State.

Probable Dayton starters

Name Ht. Class Pos. Avg.

Ibi Watson, 6-5, R-Sr., G, 19.3

Chase Johnson, 6-9, R-Jr., F, 14.7

Jalen Crutcher, 6-1, Sr., G, 13.3

Jordy Tshimanga, 6-11, R-Sr., C, 7.3

Rodney Chatman, 6-1, R-Sr., G, 6.7

Probable Mississippi State starters

Iverson Molinar, 6-3, So., G, 18.0

Tolu Smith, 6-10, R-So., F, 15.0

D.J. Stewart Jr., 6-6, R-So., G, 16.4

Abdul Ado, 6-11, R-Sr., F, 6.2

Cameron Matthews, 6-7, Fr., G/F, 2.4

About Dayton: Dayton ranks 45th in the country in free-throw percentage (76.6), 47th in 2-point field-goal percentage (56.6) and 80th in 3-point shooting percentage (36.4). ... KenPom.com gives Dayton a 58 percent chance of winning this game and predicts a 69-67 score. ... This will be the second game in Georgia in Dayton’s history. It won 82-72 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Nov. 20, 2014.

About Mississippi State: Molinar scored a career-high 21 points Tuesday in an 82-59 victory against Jackson State. He missed the team’s first three games after testing positive for COVID-19. ... Mississippi State was picked to finish 12th out of 14 teams in the Southeastern Conference preseason poll. It finished fifth last season. ... Ado has started 102 games in his career, and he ranks 21st in school history in rebounds. ... Freshman guard Andersson Garcia, who received a scholarship offer from Dayton in 2019, scored his first career points against Jackson State.

Other games: This is the second of four games at the Holiday Hoopsgiving event. Wofford, which replaced LSU in the event, plays South Florida at noon. Memphis plays Auburn at 5 p.m. Clemson plays Alabama at 7:30 p.m.

Next game: Dayton plays Ole Miss at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 19 at UD Arena.