2003–04 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball team

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, 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).

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

2003–04 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings

	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

Roster

2003–04 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball team
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.

Rankings

Main article: 2003–04 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Awards and honors

• Lawrence Roberts – Consensus First-team All-American, SEC Player of the Year
• Rick Stansbury – SEC Coach of the Year