Good morning! “If you can’t fly then run, If you can’t run then walk, If you can’t walk then crawl, But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” - Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Today, we pause to honor a man that moved our country and our society forward in so many ways. As we celebrate victories, moments and stories in each and every Bulldog Brew, let us remember those who helped pave the paths before us.

What else did we throw into today’s Bulldog Brew?

🏀 Women’s basketball recap
🎾 Tennis makes its 2024 debut
🐶 And much, much more!

🎥 BEYOND THE ARC

Beyond The Arc: He’s Back (S.1 E.6). Tolu Smith has returned! The SEC portion of the schedule kicks off with the Bulldogs battling the Gamecocks in South Carolina. After a tough loss, watch Smith lead the Bulldogs to an upset victory over the 5th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers after missing the first half of the season due to a foot injury.

🎥 COURTSIDE CONVERSATIONS

Courtside Conversations: Lauren Park-Lane. Our first repeat guest of the season! Lauren joins Joey to talk about her start of the season, the tear she's been on recently, and what it meant to be named to the "All-Tournament Team" at the Van Chancellor Classic.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Our State. The Dawgs run Mississippi. After a hard-fought contest against Ole Miss, the Bulldogs came out on top with a 69-57 victory in front of 7,101 Maroon and White faithful for its second consecutive SEC win.

🎥 Watch the postgame press conference

State held Ole Miss scoreless over the final 5:52 minutes of action and ended the game on a 13-2 run. Jessika Carter came up big with 23 points on 11-15 shooting while Debreasha Powe put the game away with a three-pointer to put the Dawgs in the lead for good. Next up, the Bulldogs will remain at home to take on Tennessee at The Hump on Thursday.

🔼 Season Opening Sweep. The No. 17 ranked Bulldogs began the year by blanking both Northern Illinois and Chattanooga inside the Rula Tennis Pavilion on Sunday. MSU earned 7-0 shutouts in both matches and won 28 of the 29 completed sets on the afternoon.

🗣️ "I think we were pretty solid on all courts today. I think we needed these two matches to get going and get organized at our place and feel the nerves. We talked with the coaches and still have a few things to work on as we get ready to attack this week and get ready for Florida State." - Nemanja Malesevic

📊 See the full results from both matches from the Bulldogs

🔼 Successful Start. State track and field started the season off strong at the UAB Vulcan Invite where the Bulldogs completed the meet with 16 first-place finishes and 37 top-five finishes. The Bulldog's opening campaign was highlighted by freshman Jordan Ware in the 200m and Roury McCloyen in the shot put. Ware broke the Vulcan Invite 200m record with a time of 20.93, which now ranks 4th in the nation among all runners. McCloyen earned his first-career collegiate victory in the shot put with a distance of 17.47m, the furthest shot put thrown by a freshman at State since 2003. 

📊 See the Bulldogs’ full results from the UAB Vulcan Invite

🔼 Hard Ball. It was a back-and-forth matchup between the Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide, but State was unable to come out on top, and in the end, fell 82-74 in Starkville. Tolu Smith III tallied his first double-double of the season and 26^th of his remarkable Bulldog career, putting up a team-high 15 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Josh Hubbard provided 14 points off the bench while Shakeel Moore scored 13, his second most this season.

Mississippi State is back in action on Wednesday when they head to Lexington to take on the No. 6 Kentucky Wildcats at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

🎥 See what Coach Jans the Bulldogs had to say in the postgame press conference

🔼 Two For Two. Head coach Chris Hooshyar and the Bulldog women’s tennis team started off the new year on the right foot after claiming two victories over the weekend. In the season opener, State took out Middle Tennessee in a 4-2 win and completed the Saturday sweep with a 4-1 win over Jacksonville State.

🗣️ "It was a lot of fun to get out there. What surprised me the most today was how many people showed up. It's a true testament to the Starkville and Mississippi State community. I couldn't be more grateful. The girls needed it too because we were nervous in the doubles in the first match.” - Chris Hooshyar

The Bulldogs came out on top in all but two singles matches on Saturday with Maria Rizzolo, Chloe Cirotte, Alexandra Mikhailuk and Jayna Clemens winning each of their two singles matches.

📚️ Read more about the Bulldogs’ season-opening wins

📬 STICK WITH US

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🐶 DAWG DAILY

Today’s Dawg Daily: Dawgs Run the Sip. Sam Purcell and his Mississippi State women's basketball team defeated Ole Miss on Sunday. Joey and Jalyn have all the recap you could need.

✅ Listen to today’s Dawg Daily on Spotify

🍎 Listen to today’s Dawg Daily on Apple Podcasts

📆 LOOKING AHEAD

Monday 1/15

No scheduled events

Tuesday 1/16

No scheduled events

Wednesday 1/17

🏀 Men’s Basketball vs. Kentucky @ 6:00pm in Lexington, KY | Watch | Listen | Live Stats

🐶 Click here to see the full Mississippi State Athletics Calendar

🐶 Have a great Monday, y'all!