TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  (seminoles.com) – The Florida State men’s basketball game against Mississippi State on Dec. 16, has been set for 9:00 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

The Seminoles will face the Bulldogs and their new head coach Ben Howland for the second consecutive season.  The Bulldog’s trip to Tallahassee will mark Mississippi State’s first trip to the capital city of Florida since the 1954-55 season.  The Seminoles are 2-0 against Mississippi State in games played in Tallahassee with both games coming more than 60 years ago.  Florida State defeated Mississippi State, 82-52, on Dec. 20, 1952 in Tallahassee and 102-86 on February 21, 1955 also in Tallahassee.   The Seminoles are 4-5 against Mississippi State in the series that dates back to the 1951-52 season.  Stan Jones, Florida State’s associate head coach, helped coach Mississippi State to the 2001 SEC Championship and into the NCAA Tournament in his only year as an assistant coach with the Bulldogs.  The Seminoles will face Mississippi State’s Howland for the first time as a head coach.  In his first season at Mississippi State under Howland is Korey McCray who was a graduate assistant under Seminole head coach Leonard Hamilton from 2002-04.  Erick Casto, the Seminoles’ equipment manager for basketball, was a student manager for the Bulldog basketball team.  Casto helped the Bulldogs earn the SEC Western Division Championship in 2003 and the SEC Championship in 2004. Mississippi State advanced to the NCAA Tournament in both seasons.  The Seminoles’ game against Mississippi State could be their second of three games against a team from the SEC in the first six weeks of the 2015-16 season.  The Seminoles could play South Carolina in the second round of the Paradise Jam on Nov. 21 and will play at Florida on Dec. 29, 2015.

Each of Florida State’s four games that have been set for television are all national broadcasts on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU – at Iowa (Dec. 2, 9:15 on ESPNU), vs. Mississippi State (Dec. 16, 9:00 pm on ESPN2), at Florida (Dec. 29, 7:00 pm ESPN2) and vs. North Carolina (Jan. 4, 7:00 pm on ESPN).  The Seminoles’ game against North Carolina will be the first national broadcast of the season on Big Monday.

Florida State’s full schedule is expected to be released during the first week of September.