CLEVELAND, Miss. - The Delta State University men's basketball won the final two of three games of the regular season to earn the third seed in the Gulf South Conference tournament, setting themselves up to host a Super Tuesday matchup against Shorter University on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. CT. 

 

STATESMEN GAME DAY INFO
Date/Opponent	Feb. 28: Delta State vs. Shorter
Date/Location/Time	Feb. 28: Walter Sillers Coliseum - 7 p.m. CT
Series History/Last Meeting	DSU leads all-time series w/ SU 6-4  - Last Meeting: 2.11.17 - DSU W, 82-81
Audio/Video	Feb. 28: Listen Here | Watch Here
Live Stats	Feb. 28: Follow Here
Game Notes	Delta State vs. Shorter

 

• The Delta State University men's basketball team enters the Gulf South Conference Tournament seeking its sixth GSC title. Previously, the Statesmen won four under legendary head coach Steve Rives ('93, '97, '98, '06) and the other in 1986 under Coach Ed Murphy . The most recent GSC crown was won in 2006 when Delta State defeated Montevallo 71-67. Since then, DSU has only made it to the semifinals twice, in 2009 and most recently in 2014. The Statesmen entered the 2014 tournament with a No. 1 seed and was upset by Christian Brothers 67-64 in the semifinals.
• DSU returns to Walter Sillers as the No. 3 seed to host No. 6 Shorter University for the "Super Tuesday" opening round of the GSC Tournament.
• Tuesday's matchup marks the 11th time that the Statesmen and Shorter Hawks will face off since the series started in 2013. The Hawks are winless in the four times they traveled to Walter Sillers Coliseum and open the tournament on a two-game losing streak.
• The two sides split the series in the regular season, as Shorter picked up the 83-74 at Winthrop-King Centre on Dec. 15 before losing in the rematch at Walter Sillers after Brett Warner nailed a game-winning three as time expired to claim a 82-81 Statesmen victory. In the first meeting, Phil Taylor dropped a team-high 30 points as well as three other Hawks players in double figures. Brett Warner proved big in the last meeting scoring a team-high 29 points and five rebounds.
• As a team, the Statesmen average 76 points per game, which ranks ninth in the conference. On the defensive side of the ball, Delta State continues holding its opponents to an average 70 points per game to rank second in the GSC.
• Senior guard Devin Schmidt is averaging 22.6 points per game which ranks second in the league and 4.8 assists per game to also rank second. Schmidt has scored 2,505 career points (20.9 ppg), is 42.9 percent (837-of-1949) from the floor and 36 percent from three-point range (299-of-830). He needs 65 points to become the GSC's all-time leading scorer. Schmidt recently moved into the third spot in the Mississippi all-time scoring list with his 21 points at Union on Feb. 16. He needs 309 points to move into the second spot over Gerald Glass, who previously played for Delta State and Ole Miss.
• Junior Cedric Harper continues to be clutch for the Statesmen, Harper has averaged 16 points in the last two games and leads the conference with 1.7 blocked shots per game.


With a win against Shorter, Delta State will advance to the semifinals at the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham on the campus of Samford University. The Statesmen will play the winner of No. 2 Alabama Huntsville/No. 7 Union on Saturday, March 4 at 7:15 p.m.