STARKVILLE — Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Chris Jans wasn’t giving the presentation of a defeated coach on Tuesday, but a bad loss to No. 18 Alabama brought out a tone similar to earlier in the season.
After another night of falling behind, the game only got further and further away from MSU. A nightmare end to the first half saw the Tide take the lead and set themselves up to race away in the second half, leaving the Bulldogs dwelling on what could have been.
“You want some leadership at that point, you need some guys on the court to help steady the ship a little bit,” Jans said of the 21-5 run by the visitors. “In years past, what I would tell you is, dig in on the defensive end, try to get two or three stops, then try to turn them over and get one of those plays that changes the momentum. But our team does not turn people over.”
Jans went on to point out that neither team was forcing many turnovers, but the lack of ability to turn defense into offense was damning as MSU fell behind. That was an area of growth for the Bulldogs (10-7, 2-2 SEC) as they won six straight, including wins over Utah, Memphis, Texas and Oklahoma, but after back-to-back losses they’re once again looking to improve to keep their postseason hopes alive.
Mirror rivals
Enter MSU’s next opponent, Ole Miss.
The Rebels (10-7, 2-2 SEC) don’t just have the same record as the Bulldogs, they’ve had a similar roller coaster in both nonconference play and the start to the SEC schedule. While the Bulldogs won two straight before two ugly losses to begin their conference slate, Ole Miss lost two straight before turning things around.
Chris Beard’s squad choked away a late comeback opportunity against No. 15 Arkansas but responded with back-to-back wins over Mizzou and No. 21 Georgia. The 97-95 win over UGA featured a high-scoring night from AJ Storr with 27 points off the bench. Patton Pinkins and Travis Perry did their fair share of the work on offense as well, combining to shoot 7-10 from beyond the arc to register 18 and 14, respectively on the scoresheet.
Jans holds a strong 5-1 record against the Rebels through the first three years of matchups, and the Bulldogs secured a memorable overtime win against their rivals a year ago to help kickstart a strong SEC finish. There was a little more room for error at that point in the 2024-25 campaign than the team has now, but the urgency is the same after a pair of humbling losses to Kentucky and Alabama.
The Bulldogs will honor the 1996 Final Four team ahead of tipoff to give the occasion even more weight. The sense of history is there, even for the new players who haven’t experienced it before.
“We gotta restart our minds coming tomorrow and get a couple of good practices in, prepare the game plan,” Sergej Macura said. “The coaching staff, they’ll have a great plan, as always. And just acknowledge how hard of a game is going to be Saturday. Not just as an opponent, as an opponent, but as ourselves, too. We’ve gotta prepare ourselves mentally and be ready to play a very tough game, very physical game.”
Like the meeting this weekend, the game in 2025 also took place just after the start of classes, something both programs will have to balance in the thick of SEC play. The focus now is all important, and a win would be huge for either team as they look to minimize losses in a difficult conference slate.
“We’re all in the same boat, you know, starting soon for everybody, and just trying to get off to a good start, and get your academic cap on, and get organized,” Jans said on Tuesday. “They’ll do nothing tomorrow, basketball-wise, at least with us. Some of them will have rehab, and some of them will obviously get shots on their own, but then we’ll regroup on Thursday. I’ve said many times, kids are much more resilient than the coaches, and I’m sure they’ll be ready to attack and get better Thursday, and get (themselves) ready to play on Saturday.”
The heated in-state rivals will tip off at 7:30 p.m. today at Humphrey Coliseum.
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