Digging Deep And Moving Onward
December 08, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
State looks to bounce back against Tulane.
STARKVILLE – No one likes adversity. Whether it's in sports or life, folks typically don't sit around hoping for a major, disruptive blow.
The truth is though, challenges are pretty much a given. Especially in the wild world of college basketball where absolutely anything can happen.
Mississippi State hit its first major speed bump of the season last weekend with a disappointing home loss to Southern. It was unexpected. It wasn't fun. But it happened.
Now, head coach Chris Jans and his Bulldogs are determined to not let it crush what remains an incredibly promising season.
"I know I said [after Sunday's game] this will stay with us all year long, and it will – [just like] a good win will stay with you all year long," Jans said. "But [last Sunday], it's not going to define us."
It won't define the Dawgs, nor should it. Forty minutes of hoops – good or bad – does not make or break a season. But there's no denying State is in a spot where it needs to pick itself right back up.
That'll be the task on Saturday. MSU faces Tulane in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event in Atlanta at 10:30 a.m. central. It's simultaneously a tough task, as well as an exciting opportunity to get back in the win column against an incredibly talented team.
Tulane brings a three-game winning streak into play Saturday and the Green Wave enters boasting a 6-1 overall record.
Jans calls Tulane a "unique team" that plays a "unique system".
"They have a lot of medium-sized guys with really strong athletic builds," Jans explained. "They don't have a ton of 6-foot-10, 6-foot-11 guys running around, but they are highly effective in how they play."
Jans says, offensively, Tulane's strength this season has been its ability to score quickly with a high shooting percentage inside the arc.
Defensively, the Green Wave uses a ton of zone – something the Dawgs have dealt with plenty in the early stages of this season.
"We've [faced] more zone this year than I remember in past years at this point in the season, but that's just how it's played out," Jans said. "You can look at it two ways. 'Oh gosh, we have to play zone again,' or we can look at all the reps we've had [against it], and hopefully we can learn to grow and be better from it."
But for all the skill Tulane has, in many ways for State, Saturday is just about the Dawgs themselves. It's about moving onward. It's about dusting off, getting up and going back to battle, knowing even after last weekend's disappointment, the war that is this season is far, far from over.
"[Last Sunday's] game is not going to keep us out of the NCAA Tournament or have anything to do with where we end up in the SEC conference race," Jans said. "I'm not happy, you're not happy, nobody's happy. Our fanbase is not happy and I get that. I understand that. But in my opinion, [the last game] will have little to do with if we go to the NCAA Tournament, or if we're in the NCAA Tournament, what our seed will be. It's certainly not a positive. I understand that. I'm not trying to make it less than it is, but at the same time we've got a lot of games left."
A lot of games, therefore a lot of chances to show what the Maroon and White is really made of.
"If you look at our schedule, you mention Tulane and then you've got Murray State, but then you've got North Texas who's got good numbers and you've got Rutgers away from home," Jans said. "Then you get into the SEC and if you look down that schedule with who we've been paired up with, we have so many opportunities the rest of the season to get right and hopefully have a resume that people are talking about when there's enough games under your belt where it actually means something."