Mississippi State to host first Unified Sports rivalry basketball game with Southern Miss next week

Contact: James Carskadon

STARKVILLE, Miss.—March Madness may be drawing to a close, but a special basketball game between Mississippi State and the University of Southern Mississippi will take place Tuesday [April 9] at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville.

The Bulldogs and Golden Eagles will square-off at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the inaugural Magnolia Madness Unified Sports rivalry basketball game, a contest that will support Special Olympics Mississippi and the MSU ACCESS program. Traditional students from MSU will team up with students in the ACCESS program, while USM students will play alongside Special Olympics Mississippi athletes from the Hattiesburg area.

Admission to the game is free. T-shirts will be available for purchase and giveaways will take place throughout the evening. MSU’s spirit squads and Bully will be there to support the Bulldogs.

This spring, MSU University Recreation facilitated a six-week Unified Sports basketball league for the second year in a row. Unified Sports is a Special Olympics program dedicated to promoting social inclusion by joining people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team for shared sports training and competition experiences.

ACCESS is Mississippi’s only post-secondary program for students with intellectual disabilities and provides a complete college experience at MSU, along with a curriculum that encompasses independent living skills and internship opportunities. For more, visit www.access.msstate.edu.

Special Olympics Mississippi provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for all children and adults with intellectual disabilities. For more information, visit www.specialolympicsms.org.