STARKVILLE – If you told Starkville boys basketball head coach Anthony Carlyle before the season started that his team would be heading into Christmas break undefeated, he wouldn’t have believed it.

The Yellow Jackets simply play too many good teams to open the year to ever go unblemished, right?

To even Carlyle’s surprise, 14 teams have stood against Starkville on the hardwood so far this season, and all of them have been toppled by high-flying Jackets, often by huge margins. Teams like Alabama’s Hoover, which won three straight 7A state championships, Tupelo, Columbus, Meridian, Choctaw County and Northwest Rankin have all been defeated by the Jackets, who are led by the explosive duo of TJ Warren and Jaden Tate. Sitting as the No. 1-ranked team in the state, their dominance and game-to-game perfection to begin the year has been a gift that fans and supporters don’t even have to unwrap. All they have to do is sit back and enjoy the show.

Carlyle said his team knows all eyes are on them every day, many of which are waiting for them to fall, but they are unbothered by it. They’ve been focusing solely on winning, and it’s paid off.

“(We’re) just playing basketball,” he said. “We are just trying to focus on one game at a time, one practice at a time. Just chop wood and carry water – just worry about what’s in front of you. You can’t do nothing about the things that haven’t come about, so just staying focused on the present.”

On Monday and Tuesday the team added two more victories to its total so far, picking up a 62-42 win over HIllcrest and a 70-48 rout of Fairhope in the Hoover Classic in Hoover, Ala. Of their 14 wins, 13 have been by at least 10 points, four have been by at least 15 points, three games were decided by at least 20 points, and two were blowouts by more than 30 points. It’s not just Warren and Tate doing everything for the Jackets, even though the two lead the team in scoring. It’s a team effort, Carlyle said.

“Just being able to have multiple guys who are capable of doing things each night. It’s almost as if it’s somebody different leading the team in scoring and helping contribute,” he said. “So, just having multiple guys on nights where some guys may struggle, ordinarily you may struggle as a team if you were depending on one guy, maybe two, (but) you have other guys who are capable of stepping up and kind of carrying that load on those particular nights.”

But it sure helps to have Tate and Warren on the squad to get buckets. Both have been big-time scorers for the Jackets but have also been willing to feed their teammates when they get going as well.

“They just look a lot more comfortable. They are playing well together, they are leading us in scoring, but it’s not about points. They are just going out and doing whatever we ask to try and get a win. You can just kind of see it between not only them two, but there are no egos or anything of that nature. (They are) just playing together as a team. Everybody has a common goal that we are trying to get to.”

The goal, of course, is the ever-elusive state championship. Last season Starkville started off on a hot, but not undefeated, run to begin the season and it all culminated in a 24-8 overall record and a 54-52 loss to eventual champion Madison Central in the quarterfinals. It’s a defeat that still stings the Jackets and has been a driving factor for them this year.

“Once that loss hit, it was kind of to the point where nothing else mattered,” Carlyle said. “We didn’t get it done and you have regrets. You wish you could have done things a little differently and we didn’t. I think that kind of opened their eyes as well.”

But now, riding high and unbeaten with two more games left before the start of Region 2-7A play, the Jackets are feeling much better about themselves and have welcomed the hype with open arms.

“I think they’ve enjoyed it. I think we went through a lot last year where we were trying to figure ourselves out, trying to grow as a team. And I think that loss we had was very disappointing and I think everybody kind of has a chip on their shoulder this year and just trying to be able to play at a high level and I think they are enjoying it,” Carlyle said. “They get a lot of praise from the outside, so we as coaches have to kind of stay on them and just try to get these things that we’re seeing that could catch up with us later all corrected. But I’m enjoying the way it’s going this far.”