A Rivalry Win And More Resiliency From Jans’ Dawgs
February 16, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
State senior writer Joel Coleman on how, once again, Mississippi State is proving it can take a punch and stand right back up under head coach Chris Jans.
OXFORD – You couldn't have been all that surprised. Please tell me you weren't surprised.
Saturday, No. 22 Mississippi State was under pressure. The Bulldogs had dropped three out of four. The NCAA Tournament resume – while still impressive – hadn't exactly been boosted in the last couple of weeks.
By any measure, MSU needed a win and not just because the Dawgs were staring down their archrival, No. 19 Ole Miss, in Oxford.
Now you know that State came through, overcoming a somewhat slow start to pretty much steamroll the Rebs on their home floor. It ended up a 10-point win for MSU, and if anyone was shocked by the game being wrapped in Maroon and White, well, you haven't been paying attention to the culture of the State program under Chris Jans.
Jans' squads are never more dangerous than when it appears they've been backed into a corner.
"I think [Jans] just mentally pushes us every day to our limits," RJ Melendez said. "He does a great job [coaching] us and, at the same, time pushes us."
It's Melendez's first season under Jans, but he's simply experiencing what all in Maroon and White have the last three years. The Bulldogs take punches and might even stumble. But man, they know how to get right back up every single time.
Let's have a brief recent history lesson.
In Jans' first season in Starkville back in the 2022-23 campaign, MSU fell in seven of its first eight Southeastern Conference games of the year. Many on the outside had given up on State. But State hadn't given up on itself. The Bulldogs pulled off an electrifying overtime win over No. 11 TCU at the Humphrey Coliseum in the SEC/Big 12 challenge and ultimately rode that momentum to end a three-year NCAA Tournament drought.
We saw a similar script last year. A 3-6 start in league play became a distant memory when the Dawgs reeled off a five-game winning streak that put the MSU train back on the tracks. State went on to get two big SEC Tournament victories (including a beatdown of No. 5 Tennessee) to go dancing in March for a second-straight year.
This season, the situation wasn't quite as dire as some past circumstances headed into Saturday's game at Ole Miss. The Dawgs were in the AP Top 25. The NET ranking was solid. But make no mistake about it, Mississippi State was starving for a win.
Well, when a Jans team is starving, it tends to feast. That's precisely what State did up in Oxford. MSU simply wanted it more than Ole Miss. The Rebels' head coach admitted it himself.
"Is it an oversimplification to say [Mississippi State] played with more of a sense of urgency than you guys did?" a reporter asked Rebel head coach Chris Beard postgame.
"I think that's a fair statement," Beard responded. "It's hard for me as a coach to say that, but it's exactly what I told our guys after the game."
The Bulldogs were more aggressive than the Rebels. Ole Miss players said it. Beard was resigned to it.
Meanwhile the Dawgs knew it would be the case before the ball was even tipped.
"We said we've got to be the most aggressive team, and we've got to be the first one to punch," Melendez said. "We can't just go out on an away game and expect to have a great game. We've got to go out, have the first punch, play aggressive and play tougher than them. I feel like that's what we did."
And what did Jans see from his group on Saturday?
"Just their connectivity [and] their togetherness," Jans said. "Most coaches around the country talk about that, especially when you're headed into a tough road environment. I thought our kids embodied that today.
"Our kids just stuck together and found a way to get it done on the road."
They stuck together. Just like the group from two years ago. Just like the team of last year.
Many teams let the potholes of a season bust their figurative tires and the campaign goes skidding off the road. At State, under Jans, hard times build better Bulldogs.
Once again, in the aftermath of struggle, State has seemingly found its footing and been reinvigorated. But there is still much to do, starting Tuesday night at home against Texas A&M.
"[Jans] preaches [the importance of every single game] a lot," KeShawn Murphy said. "We know every next game is a gauntlet. So, we're going to prep the same way, hold our heads high with this game and be even more aggressive next game."