STARKVILLE — Just before the Mississippi State men’s basketball team broke up its postgame meeting Tuesday night, head coach Chris Jans offered a reminder to a disappointed but determined group of players.
“We’re a good basketball team,” Jans said. “If we can stick together and stay the course, we’ll have opportunities to win games in this league this year.”
Minutes later, guard Shakeel Moore told media members what’s plaguing the Bulldogs this season isn’t “a lack of fight.”
“It’s not that,” Moore said. “I think we’re a good basketball team. I just think we’ve got to stay the course.”
Sound familiar?
Jans’ message clearly got through Tuesday night, even after a 70-59 loss to No. 9 Tennessee that sank the Bulldogs to 1-5 in Southeastern Conference play. But it’ll take more than words for Mississippi State to rack up the wins it needs going forward.
The contest with the Volunteers at Humphrey Coliseum ultimately wasn’t decided by single digits, but it was much closer than the final score. MSU led by as many as nine points in the first half, only to see Tennessee erase the lead entirely by the break.
“That was a momentum swing for all of us,” Jans admitted. “The second half there was back and forth, back and forth.”
It’s been the case in each of the Bulldogs’ last four games. On Jan. 7 against Ole Miss in Starkville, they were the ones coming out on top after a second-half run to beat the Rebels.
Ever since, it’s been close loss after close loss in conference play. MSU fell to Georgia and Auburn by 14 total points on the road last week before Tuesday’s battle with the Vols; even a Dec. 28 contest with Alabama was relatively close.
Mississippi State’s only ugly game of really the whole season came in a Jan. 3 blowout by Tennessee in Knoxville.
“You guys who follow us closely know how we’ve played,” Jans said. “Certainly, the one at Tennessee isn’t the one I’m talking about. But the rest of them, we’ve had opportunities to win those games.”
The Bulldogs’ stretch of play evokes memories of last season, where merely having those opportunities night in and night out wasn’t enough to get Ben Howland’s Bulldogs into the NCAA tournament. Not even close.
And if Mississippi State continues down this path, Jans’ first roster will continue the Big Dance drought.
It wouldn’t be entirely unexpected after the new coach was faced with a near-complete rebuild when he took the job in March.
But given the Bulldogs’ early play and their 11-0 start, it would certainly be a disappointing ending to what seemed like a promising season.
Of course, there’s plenty of time for Mississippi State to make some corrections and get the wins it needs. There are still nearly two months until the field of 68 is selected and 12 conference games — plus the SEC tournament — remaining.
With four of its next six games at home, starting with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff Saturday against Florida — which came into Wednesday’s game against Texas A&M with a 3-2 SEC record — it’s high time for the Bulldogs to make those adjustments ASAP.
It won’t be easy. But Jans seems to have messaging down, and that can go a long way.
“It’s a big challenge that we all face,” Jans said. “It starts with me and my staff to set the mood, the vibe and stay hungry and stay focused and continue to work and believe.
“We need to believe in what we’re doing, believe in one another, and that will be a big focus for us heading into the Florida game.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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