STARKVILLE — Before Tyson Carter left Humphrey Coliseum for the last time, he went to center court, dropped to push-up position, and kissed the M painted on the floor on March 7 against Ole Miss.
It was the Starkville native’s own way of saying farewell to Mississippi State after a productive four year basketball career.
“That was truly special,” an emotional MSU coach Ben Howland said of Carter’s gesture after a 69-44 victory against the Rebels in the regular season — and eventually season — finale.
It was universally accepted that was likely the 6-foot-4 guard’s final appearance wearing a Mississippi State uniform in Starkville.
But for that to potentially be the final college game he ever played without ever having a final say of his team’s postseason fate? No one could have scripted an ending that cruel.
Nevertheless, that ill-fated result may hold true. Carter found out along with the rest of the team five days later the SEC tournament had been canceled amid concerns about COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The Bulldogs were on a bus late Thursday morning headed to practice at Belmont University in Nashville, then pandemonium broke out moments later as the news trickled in.
“A lot of us were on Twitter,” Carter told The Dispatch on Tuesday. “We saw that the Big Ten canceled their conference tournament. Then, 15 seconds later, the ACC canceled theirs, too. It wasn’t long after that the SEC did the same.”
The night before, the NBA suspended its season after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. It wasn’t hard to read the writing on the wall.
“I wasn’t shocked,” Carter said of the cancelation. “I felt like it was going to happen after I found out about the NBA suspending its season. I knew it was just a matter of time for college basketball to do the same.”
As early as a few hours before the NBA’s decision to suspend its season, Carter and the Bulldogs were focused on preparing for Florida, their presumed opponent in what would have been a SEC tournament quarterfinal matchup on Friday.
Sitting at 20-11 overall, MSU needed to win at least one game to make its second straight NCAA tournament. Howland and the players felt good about their chances of doing so leading up to the week. Now, no one will ever know how it would have turned out.
“It’s disappointing,” Carter said. “We don’t get the chance to see what was going to happen with our season. We were just starting to play our best basketball also. Very disappointing.”
The NCAA has had preliminary discussions about extending eligibility for winter athletes who had seasons end prematurely due to the virus. Whether Carter will be afforded the opportunity to play another year, or whether he’s already had his swan song is uncertain.
But, if Carter is given an option of returning for a fifth year, he said he’d consider it.
“It would probably be something that I talk over with my family,” Carter said. “To see what the best avenue is.”
If a waiver is not approved, or if Carter decides to forego any extended eligibility offered, he said he intends to pursue a professional basketball career.
Carter’s legacy won’t soon be forgotten in Starkville. He and his father, Greg, are the only father-son duo in the history of the SEC to amass at least 1,000 points in their collegiate careers. Tyson passed his father’s scoring total of 1,123 career points on his birthday earlier this year in a win against Missouri.
“That will stick with me for a while,” Carter said.
After four years, he totaled 1,352 career points and made 216 career 3-pointers. He became MSU’s first-ever player to win SEC Sixth Man of the Year award after averaging a career-best 13.9 points per game in his senior season.
If this is indeed the end of Carter, his career finishes with a throttling of in-state rival Ole Miss.
“That’s the only positive out of this,” Carter said. “We had a great game in the season finale against Ole Miss. It was a pretty good way to go out.”
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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