# 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).

## 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. ||||||

## Awards and honors

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